“The choice is between extending the Labor-Greens coalition or handing over to a Liberal alternative that does not seem ready. Alternatively, voting for a strong crossbench of independents will at least ameliorate the excesses of the major parties,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

The Canberra Liberals are presenting themselves as ready to take government. 

Last week I presented the challenge for the Labor-Greens coalition from the old political truism “oppositions don’t win elections – governments lose them”. 

However, for the government to lose an election, voters do have to believe there is a valid alternative.

The choice is between extending the Labor-Greens coalition or handing over to a Liberal alternative that does not seem ready. Alternatively, voting for a strong crossbench of independents will at least ameliorate the excesses of the major parties.

Election after election the Canberra Liberals have shot themselves in the foot. They argue this time they provide “a fresh opportunity” to form government in the ACT. 

Liberals’ leader Elizabeth Lee has been on the front foot presenting some of the promises made to improve the territory in areas such as surgery waiting lists, housing, education, accountability and women.

But are they really ready?

Conflict within the party is still rife. In December, Lee, having returned from maternity leave, restructured the parliamentary wing of the party. 

With less than a year to go to the election, Elizabeth Kikkert and Jeremy Hanson were relegated to the backbench as the only Liberal MLAs without a shadow portfolio.

Lee pointedly argued she had assembled a team that she could “trust” to put forward a strong alternate vision for Canberra heading towards October’s ACT election. Even then it was clear that she had no “trust” in Hanson and Kikkert.

Hanson had been building a strong profile

Or were they considered a threat to her? Or were factional differences the reason behind the demotions? Each shadow minister has a series of portfolios – there were plenty to distribute. At the time Nicole Lawder announced that she would retire at the election – but she still had shadow ministries.

As acting leader while Lee was on maternity leave, Hanson had been active in the media and was building a strong profile for himself and the party. The Liberals were looking like a co-ordinated and effective opposition. Hanson is one of the most trusted and experienced Liberal MLAs by a long shot having been first elected in 2008.

Only a few weeks ago Kikkert was unwillingly ejected from the Liberal Party and has found a home with Family First. There are still “he said, she said” comments around the decision. However, action like this at the last minute indicates tensions are high within the party.

There is a quandary for voters. The Canberra Liberals have constantly taken very conservative stances on many issues since the departure of Kate Carnell and Gary Humphries. This is despite the vast majority of Canberrans being quite progressive, as illustrated by support for The Voice referendum. Even so, the Liberals have maintained a largely conservative stance.

Elizabeth Lee has demonstrated that she is less conservative than her colleagues. On the one hand, the preselection processes in the party indicate that conservative candidates are likely to remain common. On the other hand, as pointed out to me, it would take 13 Liberals to be elected to have the numbers to undo progressive policies.

What are the alternatives? Greens leader, Shane Rattenbury, has argued they could form government if they gain a couple more seats. He told ABC, increasing the density of the city and restricting choice on dwellings is high on their agenda. With the Greens the pendulum swings well away from the Liberals.

There is a reason that more people are contesting this election than ever before. There are just over double the number of candidates who stood in the elections of 1995 and 2012. Voters are dissatisfied with the government and are having trouble bringing themselves to vote for such a conservative opposition.

Those contesting the election include a well organised independent movement. Encouraged by the success of Senator David Pocock in bumping ultra-conservative Zed Seselja from his role, many independent candidates have decided to contest the election. 

Thomas Emerson and David Pollard are examples from the Independents for Canberra, along with Vanessa Picker, Leanne Foresti and AFP Officer Mark Richardson, who are part of the group committed to a stronger Legislative Assembly and ensuring whoever takes government is held accountable. 

Fiona Carrick, Peter Strong and Bill Stefaniak are alternatives who are also seeking a position on the crossbench. 

The choice is in the hands of ACT voters. There is an opportunity to return Labor-Greens for yet another term, change to the conservative Liberals or ameliorate excesses by voting independent. 

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.