“It is difficult to judge what is retarding the efforts of the Liberal Opposition. No doubt they work hard, but how they present to the public does not provide enough confidence as yet to see them as an effective alternative government,” writes MICHAEL MOORE.

HOW effective is the Elizabeth Lee-led ACT Assembly Opposition?

Governments in our parliamentary systems are strengthened by strong, effective oppositions. Oppositions that question the government closely, demand answers and hold the government accountable are doing their job as the “alternative government”.

Criticisms have been levelled at the ACT government for being “stale” and “complacent” after more than two decades in power. However, there are also accountability questions when the focus of the lens is the Canberra Liberal Opposition.

Well over a year after the ACT election there can be no excuses about management and performance. Shadow portfolios should have been bedded in and those responsible ought to be up to speed in understanding the strengths, achievements and what can be improved as they interrogate the directorates for which they have responsibility.

One of the most effective accountability mechanisms for any opposition is the examination of annual reports through the Estimates Committee process. This year Annual Reports Estimates were held from the last week in February to the end of the first week in March. Annual reports meet appropriate standards of accountability and, as such, provide extraordinary insights into each of the ministerial portfolios.

Just three opposition media releases emanated from the hearings this year. James Milligan questioned Minister Chris Steel on “why so little funding went to the independent sector following a recent ‘Report on Government Services’ that indicates almost 80 per cent of students in the VET sector attend private and independent RTO’s yet receive less than 20 per cent of funding”.

In an appropriate criticism, Mr Mulligan pointed out that the Minister had failed “to back the quality of training provided by the independent sector”. Such a challenge should put the Minister on notice to ensure that the quality of training in the independent sector is at least at the same standard as that of the Canberra Institute of Technology.

Another release coming out of the Estimates hearing on annual reports was from Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee who was able to ascertain that Cabinet decisions were being delayed. Rather than being published within a month – there was at least a six-month delay. Her questioning exposed either lack of transparency or incompetence by the Chief Minister. 

Leanne Castley used the Health Directorate’s annual report to expose failures in elective surgery with nearly 800 people missing out on having their elective surgery on time. However, there were opportunities missed! What about the real waiting lists – those people who have been referred by their GP but not yet assessed by ACT Health? What is the size of this undeclared waiting list? How long are people waiting to move from referral stage to getting on to the official list? 

These are just three examples. The nature of this sort of Annual Report Estimates Committee is that there should be countless examples. And the Opposition should be making them public so that the community can also understand where the government needs to improve.

The political strategy of some jurisdictional oppositions has been to keep a low profile following the political adage that “governments lose elections, oppositions don’t win them”. This tactic has never worked in the ACT. 

So what is containing or limiting the Liberal Party Opposition? Are each of the MLAs free enough to question the government? Do they have enough resources to forensically examine the annual reports? Are they restricted by centralised party processes or individually free to really drive home issues in their own portfolios?

The Canberra Liberals need to be very public in presenting themselves as the alternative government. It was like a breath of fresh air when the moderate Elizabeth Lee took over as leader. It really looked like they might be able to challenge for government at the next election. However, a strong opposition performance speaks to the potential for an effective government.

It is difficult to judge, as an outsider, what is retarding the efforts of the Liberal Opposition. No doubt they work hard on constituency and other issues. However, where they are focused and how they present to the public does not provide enough confidence as yet to see them as an effective alternative government.