ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says succession looms but his experience still needed

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Andrew Barr has re-affirmed his commitment to serving his full four-year term as Chief Minister. Conceding he's in the second half of his political career, Mr Barr has told the ABC he's not thinking of retirement and is focused on setting up a strong foundation for the territory's future.

Transcript

00:00Andrew Barr, you're the last among a number of territory political leaders we're talking

00:07to on Stateline for the year, so welcome.

00:09It does seem timely to review particularly the year economically, and to borrow a phrase

00:16perhaps from the late Queen, that might be described as an annus horribilis, do you still

00:21believe that you can halve the billion dollar deficit your government has in the roughly

00:27seven months remaining?

00:28We've certainly got a lot of work ahead of us with the budget, there's a number of big

00:34moving parts that we'll get some further information on through the Commonwealth Government's mid-year

00:39update, so principally where the GST pool is sitting, and then we'll have an indication

00:45from the Grants Commissioners to the ACT share of that.

00:49You're not expecting windfalls on those though?

00:51Not a massive amount, but the GST is the single largest revenue source for the Territory, so

00:56when you look on the revenue side, you look to what are the big sources of revenue, and

01:01then you look on the expenditure side, where are the big expenditure risks.

01:06Clearly GST, the other that is very topical around the country at the moment for every

01:11state and territory is the funding agreements with the Commonwealth, particularly around hospitals,

01:17but also the NDIS reforms.

01:19Does that indicate that what it is being contained or health expenditure is actually falling?

01:25Yeah, the tele-expenditure is not going to fall, but what we can do is seek to keep it within

01:33the available budgets.

01:34There are some cost pressures that have been identified in education, for example, in school

01:38budgets, and there's a process now underway, a review process and work that the Education

01:44Directorate is undertaking.

01:46So we are keeping a close eye on expenditure on the recurrent side and also on the capital

01:51side in relation to infrastructure projects.

01:55We have a very ambitious infrastructure program underway at the moment.

01:59Yeah.

02:00We're doing well so far, but we're five months into the fiscal year, there's more data.

02:07Will the deferrals of planned pipeline projects remain a live option for you?

02:13Well, not so much deferrals, but we're certainly not taking on any big new major projects until

02:20we've seen the successful completion of a number of the current ones.

02:24Yeah.

02:25Some have been opened, but are still going through financial closure.

02:30So the CIT campus in Woden is an example there.

02:33And it's a question of final drawdown on contingencies and those sorts of issues.

02:38I do want to acknowledge that the Commonwealth has put a significant amount of additional

02:42funding into primary healthcare and are working with the Territory Government and with GPs to

02:48improve access to bulk billing in the ACT, which I know is a very significant issue.

02:54But that in and of itself is not going to take a huge amount of pressure off hospital emergency

03:00departments in the short term.

03:03So we need to look to our nurse-led walk-in centres, to our community health centres and

03:07to increased access to primary healthcare through GP bulk billing to take some of the pressure

03:13off.

03:14Let's zoom out a little more generally.

03:17Are you finding it more liberating now or harder to govern in an assembly where you are

03:25not, as you have been, effectively guaranteed green support?

03:29Look, it is more liberating, I think, for everyone.

03:33I would observe that perhaps with the exception of the unhappiness in the Canberra Liberals at

03:37the moment, that everyone else seems to be a little bit happier to have a greater degree

03:42of freedom.

03:43We are not, you know, tied to every extreme position that the Greens put.

03:47The Greens certainly feel better in being able to protest against the Labor Party.

03:53That's a key reason for being for the Greens, is to attack the Labor Party.

03:58They are a bit freer to do that.

04:00So, I mean, our approach is that we seek to work with and cooperate with the Greens where

04:07we can.

04:08We'll disagree where we must and we'll advance the Territory's interests through whichever

04:13pathway we can get to 13 votes.

04:15Look, as we've reached these milestones, 12 months we're talking about here, it's inevitable

04:20the discussion about renewal of the Labor brand of the Government leads to questions about

04:26your own future.

04:28How much thought do you give to your longevity in ACT politics?

04:32Oh, well, obviously I am in the second half of my political career.

04:37But I'm only 52, so I'm not thinking of retirement in the foreseeable future.

04:45But there will obviously come a time when leadership needs to transition to a new generation, a new

04:54set of leaders.

04:55How will you know when you've reached that time, or another way of putting it, when you've

05:00achieved everything that is reasonably possible?

05:04Well, look, I made a commitment, including on the ABC, on a number of occasions in running

05:12for the 2024 election that I would run full term.

05:17The timeframe in which you make a decision about whether you're running for the next election

05:20is right towards the end of a four-year term.

05:25The second question of when do you know, I have asked some of my colleagues who've held

05:31Premier or Prime Minister positions over the years, and they tell you, you absolutely know

05:38when you're done, when you can't do it anymore, and it just becomes very, very apparent to you.

05:44Okay.

05:45I'm not in that point.

05:47John Howard did 11 years.

05:48You're at 11 years.

05:49We know how that ended.

05:51It is possible to stay too long, isn't it?

05:53Oh, of course it is.

05:55Yeah.

05:56John Howard, I think, was 64 or 65 by that point.

06:00I'm in my early 50s, but of course, I am conscious of the fact that I'm in the second half of

06:08my career, but this is a four-year term.

06:10We've established, you know, in difficult circumstances and very changed governance arrangements,

06:17nearly half the Cabinet is new.

06:19I've got two new backbench MPs in this term.

06:25We've settled things, worked it over, I think we've got the run of the Assembly now a little

06:29better.

06:30The first year was about establishing and getting all of the necessary mechanisms in

06:35place to deliver on this four-year agenda.

06:38Sure.

06:39I want to be, to borrow the Prime Minister's mantra from last time, kicking with the wind

06:45in the fourth year.

06:48That's several years away.

06:49Right now, my job is to deliver on the commitments that we took to the 2024 election to support

06:58my colleagues and a government of 10 now as opposed to a government of 16 that we had

07:04with the Greens in the last term.

07:05Right.

07:06So you're in a transitional phase already in your own mind, are you?

07:11Oh, look, I have been since the election.

07:13The job is different.

07:14The job is different.

07:15I am the only member of the Labor Party team who has experienced minority government on

07:20our own.

07:22All of my other colleagues, their entire experience in the Assembly has been governing with the

07:27Greens.

07:28So I think there's benefit from experience.

07:30There's also benefit from stability in leadership and experience.

07:33So they couldn't do it without you?

07:35Oh, I'm sure that they can manage in the longer term, but I'm in the Assembly.

07:42I've been elected for a four-year term.

07:44I think I'm best suited in the role I'm in.

07:46It would be a bit of a waste to go and sit on the back bench for three years at this point.

07:50All right.

07:51I'm hearing the message.

07:52Rest assured, while ever you're there, we'll keep talking to you and asking the questions.

07:56Indeed.

07:57Andrew Barr, thank you.

07:58Thanks, Greg.

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