| Election Name: | 2012 Australian Capital Territory general election |
| Country: | Australian Capital Territory |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2008 Australian Capital Territory general election |
| Previous Year: | 2008 |
| Next Election: | 2016 Australian Capital Territory general election |
| Next Year: | 2016 |
| Outgoing Members: | Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, 2008–2012 |
| Elected Members: | Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, 2012–2016 |
| Seats For Election: | All 17 seats of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly |
| Majority Seats: | 9 |
| Election Date: | 20 October 2012 |
| Turnout: | 89.3 (1.1 pp) |
| Opinion Polls: | 2012 Australian Capital Territory general election#Opinion polling |
| Leader1: | Zed Seselja |
| Leader Since1: | 13 December 2007 |
| Party1: | Liberal Party of Australia (Australian Capital Territory Division) |
| Leaders Seat1: | Brindabella |
| Last Election1: | 6 seats, 31.59% |
| Seats1: | 8 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Popular Vote1: | 86,032 |
| Percentage1: | 38.90% |
| Swing1: | 7.31 |
| Leader2: | Katy Gallagher |
| Leader Since2: | 16 May 2011 |
| Party2: | Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Molonglo |
| Last Election2: | 7 seats, 37.39% |
| Seats2: | 8 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 85,991 |
| Percentage2: | 38.88% |
| Swing2: | 1.49 |
| Leader3: | Meredith Hunter |
| Leader Since3: | October 2008 |
| Party3: | ACT Greens |
| Leaders Seat3: | Ginninderra (lost seat) |
| Last Election3: | 4 seats, 15.62% |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Seat Change3: | 3 |
| Popular Vote3: | 23,773 |
| Percentage3: | 10.75% |
| Swing3: | 4.87 |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Chief Minister | |
| Before Election: | Katy Gallagher |
| Before Party: | Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch) |
| After Election: | Katy Gallagher |
| After Party: | Labor-Greens Coalition |
Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly occurred on Saturday, 20 October 2012. The 11-year incumbent Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, won a fourth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader Zed Seselja.[1] [2] [3]
Candidates are elected to fill all 17 Legislative Assembly seats in the unicameral parliament which consists of three multi-member electorates, Brindabella (five seats), Ginninderra (five seats) and Molonglo (seven seats), using a proportional representation single transferable vote method known as the Hare-Clark system. The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission.
The incumbent Labor Party led by Chief Minister Katy Gallagher attempted to win re-election for a historic fourth term after 11 years in government in the 17-member unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly. Labor, led by Jon Stanhope, formed a minority government after the 2008 election, with Greens holding the balance of power – Labor 7 seats (37.4%), Liberal 6 seats (31.6%), Greens 4 seats (15.6%).[5] [6] [7] Stanhope resigned as Chief Minister and Labor leader on 12 May 2011, and was replaced by his deputy, Katy Gallagher.
All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly is divided into three electorates: five-member Brindabella (including Tuggeranong and parts of the Woden Valley) and Ginninderra (including Belconnen and suburbs) and seven-member Molonglo (including North Canberra, South Canberra, Gungahlin, Weston Creek, and the remainder of the Woden Valley). Election dates are set in statute with four-year fixed terms.
Nine political parties were registered with the ACT Electoral Office as eligible for the October 2012 election.[8] [9]
Three further organisations—Pirate Party Australia, Australian Democrats and No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics—were not registered as political parties in the ACT, however had stated they intended to nominate candidates to be listed on ballot papers as independents.[10] [11]
Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending one seat.
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Bullet Train candidates | Motorist candidates | Ungrouped candidates | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | Joy Burch Mike Kinniburgh | valign=top | Val Jeffery Nicole Lawder Zed Seselja | valign=top | Amanda Bresnan Johnathan Davis Ben Murphy | valign=top | Mark Erwood Adam Henschke | valign=top | Burl Doble Kieran Jones-Ellis | valign=top | Mark Gibbons (-) Michael Lindfield (Ind) Calvin Pearce (Ind) |
Five seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending two seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending one seat.
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | Motorist candidates | LDP candidates | MLSJ candidates | Bullet Train candidates | Ungrouped candidates | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | Yvette Berry Jayson Hinder | valign=top | Alistair Coe Merinda Nash | valign=top | James Higgins Meredith Hunter Hannah Parris | valign=top | Chic Henry Darryl Walford | valign=top | Mustafa Jawadi Matt Thompson | valign=top | Majlinda Bitani Nehmat Nana Jbeili Karamia Lê Marion Lê Kate Reynolds | valign=top | Chris Bucknell Tony Halton | valign=top | Darren Churchill (-) Emmanuel Ezekiel-Hart (Ind) Norm Gingell (Ind) Glen Takkenberg (-) |
Seven seats were up for election. The Labor Party was defending three seats. The Liberal Party was defending two seats. The Greens were defending two seats.
Elected in this election were 3 Labour (Barr, Corbell, Gallagher), 2 Liberals (Doszpot, Hanson), and two Greens (Le Coutour, Rattenbury)
| Labor candidates | Liberal candidates | Greens candidates | LDP candidates | Motorist candidates | Bullet Train candidates | Ungrouped candidates | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | Andrew Barr Angie Drake Mark Kulasingham | valign=top | Steve Doszpot Murray Gordon Elizabeth Lee | valign=top | Alan Kerlin Caroline Le Couteur Shane Rattenbury Adriana Siddle | valign=top | Ian Gardner Trisha Jha | valign=top | David Cumbers Mark Curran | valign=top | Tim Bohm Shelley Dickerson | valign=top | Stuart Biggs (-) Philip Pocock (Ind) |
See main article: Results of the Australian Capital Territory general election, 2012.
|}
| Results by electorate | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brindabella | Ginninderra | Molonglo | ||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||||||||||
| Liberal | align=right | 29,496 | align=right | 46.4 | align=right | 3 | align=right | 22,275 | align=right | 33.7 | align=right | 2 | align=right | 34,261 | align=right | 37.4 | align=right | 3 | ||
| Labor | align=right | 22,665 | align=right | 35.7 | align=right | 2 | align=right | 26,354 | align=right | 39.9 | align=right | 3 | align=right | 36,972 | align=right | 40.4 | align=right | 3 | ||
| Greens | align=right | 5,032 | align=right | 7.9 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 6,676 | align=right | 10.1 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 12,065 | align=right | 13.2 | align=right | 1 | ||
| Motorist Party | align=right | 2,488 | align=right | 3.9 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 4,794 | align=right | 7.3 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 1,897 | align=right | 2.1 | align=right | 0 | ||
| Bullet Train | align=right | 2,395 | align=right | 3.8 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 2,358 | align=right | 3.6 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 4,111 | align=right | 4.5 | align=right | 0 | ||
| Independent | align=right | 1,486 | align=right | 2.3 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 1,466 | align=right | 2.2 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 1,101 | align=right | 1.2 | align=right | 0 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | align=right | — | align=right | — | align=right | — | align=right | 1,213 | align=right | 1.8 | align=right | 0 | align=right | 1,127 | align=right | 1.2 | align=right | 0 | ||
| Marion Lê Social Justice | align=right | — | align=right | — | align=right | — | align=right | 940 | align=right | 1.4 | align=right | 0 | align=right | — | align=right | — | align=right | — | ||
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After the distribution of preferences neither of the two major parties had won sufficient number of seats to form government in their own right and would need the support of the sole Greens representative Shane Rattenbury. While Labor leader Katy Gallagher wanted to renew the cooperation with the Greens from the previous election period, Liberal leader Zed Seselja argued that in the light of the overall losses of the previous Labor-Green alliance, the strong Liberal gain of 7.3%, and a historic tie in both seats and percentage (38.9% for each major party), with his party having received 41 more preference votes than Labor, the Liberals as the formally strongest party should lead the new Government.
After a week of negotiations with both major parties, Shane Rattenburry came to a formal agreement with the Labor Party to form a Coalition Government, which meant that he would be appointed to the cabinet, and implement nearly 100 policies and reforms mainly regarding the rail network in Canberra, the clean up of Canberra's lakes, the ACT's climate change targets, the Gonski education reforms and the reduction of homelessness. Despite "constructive conversations" with the Liberals Rattenbury justified the decision with the greater closeness between the two parties' policies, which would allow a "stable government", Gallagher's "more substantial agenda" and the Liberals' perceived irresponsibility towards progressive tax reforms. Another reason discussed by the press was that Seselja did not want to give a minister post to Rattenbury. As a result of Rattenbury's promotion to the cabinet, Gallagher planned to enlarge the cabinet to six ministers.[15]
On 6 November 2012, Gallagher was re-elected as chief minister with the votes of her Labor-Green coalition. Labor's candidate for the office of Speaker Mary Porter, as expected, was not successful, as Rattenbury had announced at the same time as the government agreement that he would vote for the Liberal Party's candidate, which in the end was Vicki Dunne. Porter was elected Deputy Speaker instead.[16] While both Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Opposition Leader Zed Seselja retained their positions following the outcome of this election, neither lasted in their positions to lead their respective parties at the next election in 2016 as both remarkably resigned from their positions of their own volitions and from the territory Parliament to move to the Federal Parliament as the two senators representing the ACT.