Labor hoping to win 7th term in ACT election with Chief Minister Andrew Barr at the helm

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Residents in the nation’s capital are casting their ballots in the ACT election. It will determine whether Labor is returned for a historic seventh term of government or if the Canberra Liberals will end their 23 years in opposition.

Transcript

00:00Voting and barbecues are very much underway for those all-important democracy sausages

00:07here in Canberra.

00:09We're hearing that this year there's not only democracy sausages on offer, but democracy

00:13bacon and egg rolls and plenty of cakes as well.

00:17Even hearing that some people who have already pre-polled are coming down today to partake

00:21in that.

00:22And that's actually one of the things that's unique about the ACT.

00:26Pre-polling early voting is extremely popular.

00:28In 2020, less than a third of votes were actually cast on election day, and that was obviously

00:33a pandemic election.

00:34So this year hasn't been quite as popular, but still 40-50% of Canberrans have already

00:41cast their vote.

00:42But still tens of thousands to get through the doors today.

00:45It's difficult to measure.

00:47There's no scientific opinion polling here in the ACT, but we've spoken to a few voters

00:52and we are hearing that there is this mood for change.

00:55ACT Labor has now been in government for 23 years, most recently governing in a coalition

01:00with the Greens.

01:01And the Canberra Liberals certainly are pitching themselves as this force for change, and at

01:06the moment is now.

01:07On the other hand, ACT Labor is selling themselves to voters as the steady hand who's proven

01:12that they can guide the government.

01:14And what's also making this election unique is that for the first time in decades, a group

01:19of independents are pitching themselves as a real political force, hoping to replicate

01:24the success of independent Senator David Pocock at a federal level.

01:28What we don't know yet is just how much of that mood for change will actually translate

01:33into people changing their votes when they go into the polling booths today.

01:37Hopefully we'll know more this evening.

01:39Some of the defining moments, we've seen a couple of slip-ups from both sides.

01:43In the last week in particular, ACT Labor just yesterday were forced to retract one

01:49of its attack ads on the Canberra Liberals, as it was deemed to be in breach of its own

01:53electoral laws.

01:54And infamously, perhaps this week, Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee was caught on

01:59camera giving the finger to a journalist.

02:03We've also had issues with both the Greens and the Liberals with betting processes, where

02:08social media profiles and comments linked to some of their candidates have emerged,

02:13which perhaps have cast them in what the parties might consider to be an unfavourable light

02:18during the campaign.

02:19What we haven't seen, though, is a defining issue for the campaign.

02:25One place where we do see a major difference between the two major parties is on housing

02:30affordability and choice.

02:31ACT Labor are looking to unlock more of that medium-density missing middle, while the Liberals,

02:37also supporting a bit more density in the Bush capital, are also looking to develop

02:42previously undeveloped areas of Canberra.

02:45Whether any of those slip-ups will have an effect on voters, we will hopefully again

02:50find out this evening.

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