ACT Government: Why there won't be a Murrumbidgee by-election

Liberal ACT MLA Giulia Jones will resign when the ACT Legislative Assembly sits next week. We take a look at what happens when MLAs resign.

ACT Liberal MLA Giulia Jones announced she will resign from the ACT Legislative Assembly next week.

Mrs Jones made the announcement on Tuesday, citing health reasons and family commitments as the reasons for her decision.

This means there is a vacancy for a new MLA for the seat of Murrumbidgee which needs to be filled.

If you are reading this in any other state in Australia you’re probably thinking “OK cool, so the ACT territory government will need to have a by-election, too easy”.

Well … it doesn’t quite work like that.

Here’s an overview of what happens when an MLA resigns in the ACT.

Giulia Jones announced she would resign as a member for Murrumbidgee.

Wait … what is the ACT Legislative Assembly

The ACT Legislative Assembly is roughly equivalent to a state government.

Australian territory governments such as the NT Government and ACT Government perform the same functions as state governments but have less powers to legislate than states.

The federal government can curtail the ability for the territories to pass legislation on certain issues such as voluntary euthanasia.

Additionally due to its small size, the ACT does not have local government so the ACT Government takes on similar responsibilities to a local council alongside responsibilities similar to a state government.

This means the ACT Government is involved in everything from bin night logistics to passing drug decriminalisation legislation.

We have a chief minister not a premier, and we usually call the building where MLAs meet the Assembly, not parliament.

The Assembly is unicameral, so it is not broken down into two houses, and has 25 members from five electorates.

Yep, you read that last sentence correctly; 25 members, from five electorates.

This means instead of having one local member Canberrans have five local members.

OK, so why no by-elections

As you may have gathered, a by-election for a seat with five members would be a logistical nightmare.

A by-election in an ACT seat would mean the four other MLA’s who are not resigning would also need to contest again.

And in a seat which has one fifth of the MLAs a by-election could change the government before its term ends.

So oddly a countback of the last election’s results is far less disruptive than a by-election.

When was the last time the ACT Government did a countback

Former Opposition Leader Alastair Coe was the last person to resign from the ACT Legislative Assembly. Picture: Sean Davey

In March 2021 Opposition Leader Alastair Coe resigned from the ACT Legislative Assembly following the defeat of the Liberal Party in the October 2o20 ACT Election.

James Milligan, who was defeated by fellow Canberra Liberal Leanne Castley in the 2020 election, was re-elected after Coe’s departure.

Notably, Coe resigned less than six months after the ACT Election.

Whoever replaces Jones will have spent two years moving on with their life since the 2020 election.

Who are the main contenders to replace Giulia Jones?

Two main contenders to replace Giulia Jones are fellow Canberra Liberal Amardeep Singh and independent candidate Fiona Carrick.

In 2020 Singh received 6 per cent of the vote with a quota of 0.36 and Fiona Carrick received 7.7 per cent of the vote with a quota of 0.42 per cent.

Ultimately time will tell who will emerge victorious from the countback.

Originally published as ACT Government: Why there won't be a Murrumbidgee by-election