ACT election: Greens a no-go for federal Labor, says Chief Minister Andrew Barr

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says Labor should not enter into a coalition government with the Greens, arguing the attitude of the party led by Adam Bandt makes it ‘almost ­impossible’.

Anthony Albanese, Adam Bandt and Andrew Barr.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says federal Labor should not enter into a coalition government with the Greens, arguing that the attitude of the party led by Adam Bandt makes “that almost ­impossible”.

As he weighs whether to dump the Greens from his cabinet after winning a seventh term for Labor at Saturday’s election, Mr Barr said the left-wing party had seen its Canberra vote decline because the minor party was blocking ­Anthony Albanese’s housing agenda in the Senate.

Mr Barr said he had been able to govern the nation’s capital in coalition with the Greens because the ACT branch of the party, led by Shane Rattenbury, had taken a “pragmatic approach”, but he did not see a way forward for Mr Bandt’s party to work with ­federal Labor.

“I think the attitude of the federal Greens makes that almost impossible and it stands, at least in recent history, in quite stark contrast with their more pragmatic approach in the ACT,” Mr Barr told The Australian.

“I think there’s a lesson for the Greens political party out of this campaign, and what’s been happening federally, that one of the reasons that their vote declined in the ACT election was the fact that they were holding up the construction of new housing.

“It doesn’t go unnoticed in an educated electorate like the ACT, who’s standing in the way of getting something done, something progressive done. And in the Senate, at the moment, it is the Greens party.”

Labor is on track to win 10 of the Legislative ­Assembly’s 25 seats.

Mr Barr said the Greens’ position on the Middle East conflict had dissuaded older constituents from supporting the party, but it had improved its standing among university-aged voters.

Declaring that the Israel-Hamas war should not be brought into the national debate for “political advantage”, Mr Barr said there was evidence some Greens MPs had sought to exploit the conflict for political reasons.

After winning his third election, with the latest vote count reflecting 34.5 per cent support for Labor and 32.9 per cent for the Liberals, Mr Barr said he would not seek to implement social reforms after he decriminalised drugs, lowered the age of criminal responsibility and introduced the most liberal assisted dying scheme.

Mr Barr also rejected that Canberra was a “bubble” because of its progressive political leanings, comparably high household incomes and levels of education, arguing that there were parts of Sydney and Melbourne that were “far more of a bubble and out of touch with the rest of Australia than Canberra is”.

Though vote counting is still under way, Labor is on track to win 10 of the Legislative ­Assembly’s 25 seats, the Liberals are also closing in on 10, the Greens three and one each for independents Thomas Emerson and Fiona Carrick.

Mr Barr said discussions were still under way with the minor party candidates who looked ­likely to be elected, but he was waiting for the Greens to complete their internal deliberations on whether they would seek to re-enter a coalition government.

He said he would either seek to establish a supply-and-confidence agreement with the crossbench or a governing agreement with the Greens to form a minority government, depending on the role the minor party wanted to play.

Mr Barr said he had not made any decisions on portfolios, including whether he would stay on as Treasurer, and, though he was open to Mr Rattenbury remaining in cabinet, he would not necessarily be reappointed as ­Attorney-General.