“Every piece of legislation that comes before the Legislative Assembly will be subject to genuine review. The majority of members are not from the government,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

The composition of the ACT Legislative Assembly will present huge challenges for Chief Minister Andrew Barr. 

His choice of a large ministry along with the Greens’ decision to move away from a coalition government exacerbates the challenges.

It will certainly not be business as usual for the Labor government. 

The agreement with the Greens during the period of the last Assembly gave Barr a majority coalition government. Once a decision was reached in cabinet, it was effectively rubber stamped by the ACT Legislative Assembly. 

It was effectively a four-year dictatorship where the government, in effect, did not answer to the parliament.

Legislative Assembly processes did remain intact with backbenchers working hard on parliamentary committees to understand issues as well as the community view before making recommendations to government. However, if those recommendations did not suit the government – they could easily be dismissed. And, the government perspective was often heavily influenced by key public servants.

Over the next four years the scenario will be very different. Stable government has been achieved through commitments from the crossbench MLAs. They have guaranteed the passage of the budget bills and agreed to support the chief minister in any motion seeking to sack him. This would apply other than if there is reprehensible conduct. But that is where the commitments end.

Every piece of legislation that comes before the Legislative Assembly will be subject to genuine review. The majority of members are not from the government. A great deal of work will need to be done to persuade the non-government MLAs of the need for each piece of legislation and its efficacy. 

In the past, the committees have provided an effective tool to assess legislation or policy decisions. However, by maintaining eight ministers, Barr has left just two first-time MLAs to sit on committees. This will be a daunting task for Caitlin Tough and Taimus Werner-Gibbings. The two independent MLAs, Fiona Carrick and Thomas Emerson, will face a similar dilemma.

Why eight ministers? Perhaps it is to reward some of the Labor MLAs who sat on the backbench in the previous Assembly. It is true that the chief minister has reduced the number of ministers from the nine at the last Assembly when there was a coalition government. 

However, Barr has commissioned double the number of ministers compared to the government of then Chief Minister Gary Humphries in 2000-2001. Gary operated with four ministers. Granted this was in a 17-member Legislative Assembly, rather than the current 25.

In the ACT, Standing Committee MLAs have the power to take on a reference themselves. It is most likely that key committees will have a Liberal MLA, a Labor MLA, an Independent MLA and a Green MLA. Without a standing agreement between the Greens and Labor, it is quite possible that some inquiries will be initiated that do not fit with the Labor government agenda.

The Tenth Assembly had nine Standing Committees and eight Select Committees. Even with a reduction in the number, the work of just two Labor MLAs sitting on the backbench will be extensive. They will need to attend all hearings, manage background research, and to carefully read all of the submissions prior to participating in drafting reports. 

If Barr had limited his government to six, rather than eight ministers, there would have been four backbench MLAs to take on the responsibilities of the committee work. Six ministers for the ACT seems not unreasonable. 

There are signs that Barr is taking this situation seriously. His support for Liberal Mark Parton as Speaker makes sense. He did not lose yet another backbencher to a largely administrative role. Parton is an experienced MLA and former Deputy Speaker. There is little doubt that he will take on the role as an impartial arbiter. 

From the Liberals’ perspective, they have gained a role without losing voting power as the ACT Speaker has a deliberative vote (the speaker votes on all issues rather than holding a casting vote).

The first six months will be an interesting time in the ACT Assembly as the Greens and independents work between the two major parties seeking to get support for the commitments that they have made to the community.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.