“Democracy requires an active and electable Opposition to keep the government accountable, forthright and perceptive. This has not been the case for some time,” writes columnist ROBERT MACKLIN.

Perhaps it’s time to admit that our experiment of a self-governing national capital city has failed.

It was never envisioned by its creators; the Australian Capital Territory was always seen as a national showcase under the aegis of the Federal Parliament, and so it should have remained.

It is not too late to revert to its original role. Indeed, the fate of a similar institution – the self-ruled Brussels, Belgium’s bilingual capital – is odds-on to be taken over by its national government.

The underlying reasons are also similar: both cities are going broke. According to the New York Times, “Prime Minister Bart De Wever has derided the city as a ‘failed state’ and hinted at an International Monetary Fund-like treatment”. As the NYT writer says: “There are no quick fixes for the city’s deficit problem.”

Canberra’s political problem is utterly intransigent. The conservative parties are strongly in favour of cutting the number of public servants in a bailiwick where at least half the voters are public servants; and many of the others are dependent on them to make a profit in private industry.

The result is that the Labor Party – and when necessary, the Greens Party in coalition – has won elections for the last 24 years – with every chance of continuing the process.

That is asking for trouble. Democracy requires an active and electable Opposition to keep the government accountable, forthright and perceptive. This has not been the case for some time.

It also means that the arrogance of unbridled power has had its inevitable effect. The leaders develop the “tyranny virus” and listen only to their courtiers.

Canberrans never wanted self-government. In a poll taken in 1978 we were given three options: A: Full self-government with a locally elected parliament; B: Local government-style administration; C: Maintain the current federal control. The results were C: 63.75 per cent; A: 30.5 per cent; B: 5.72 per cent.

Despite this overwhelming desire for the status quo of federal control, in 1988 the federal government forced self-government upon us. The Hawke-Keating government of the day focused on Labor Party domination and a chance to dump federal expenditure. We responded by electing jokers to the Assembly including three members of the No-Self-Government Party.

The long-term result is a ragtag government led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr sending the city’s credit rating tumbling as the deficits mount exponentially to pay for the 19th-century technology of a tramway, And a scrapping of the “garden city” of Walter Burley Griffin’s design and Charles Weston’s creation.

The downfall is nicely captured in a letter I received from a resident, Patrick Garratt last week. He arrived in Canberra in 1966 from Wagga Wagga to begin an apprenticeship in horticulture. 

“Self-government was the end of our magnificent garden city,” he wrote. “It had been a great training city for gardeners and horticulturalists to learn and gain experience. Apprentices changed locations each month – Yarralumla nursery, Botanical gardens, turf nursery, tree surgery and Commonwealth Park. 

“The place started to fall apart when self-government started closing suburban depots and let horticultural contracts to private enterprise.

“I’m now 76 and ashamed of how the capital of this great country looks. I had the privilege to travel to Europe, UK and the US on a Churchill scholarship. My memories of the great gardens and wonderful cities remind me of how our city should look.”

Perhaps we might also warn Indonesia about building their new capital in Borneo. Orangutans don’t pay rates. 

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