Andrew Barr relies on an easy ride from the ABC

Anthony Albanese with ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and federal Finance Minister Katy Gallagher in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The ABC must believe Canberrans have no interest in Andrew Barr’s introduction of the most liberal voluntary assisted dying legislation in the country.

One day after introducing the shake-up, the ACT Chief Minister appeared on local ABC radio, where he took questions from residents and host Adam Shirley.

Barr was not asked a single question about the new legislation which, if passed, would allow nurses, social workers and counsellors to initiate discussions about voluntary assisted dying with terminally ill patients.

The proposed bill also differs from other jurisdictions by allowing patients to access assisted suicide without having a predicted time of death of 12 months or less.

There were also no questions on legislation to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old – legislation which was debated on Wednesday – or the recent decriminalisation of drugs in the nation’s capital. Instead, Barr was quizzed on whether he would consider running for federal parliament – an option he did not rule out – and if he supported increasing the representation of the ACT in the federal Senate, which he does.

This is the kind of easy publicity that politicians dream of. While Barr took questions from listeners, Shirley still had the ­ability to put his own questions to the Chief Minister. Yet these ­topics were not raised.

The questions put to Barr instead ranged from roadside rubbish pick-up, the trimming of street trees (Barr confirmed there is a backlog), literacy programs for schoolchildren, free preschool, gutter cleaning and street sweeping, the feeding of wild birds, the reopening of a public swimming pool, snake catching regulations, and developments planned by the Federal Golf Club.

Mr Barr says he will still run to be re-elected as chief minister next year.

Would the premier of NSW, Queensland or Victoria ever be subjected to this sort of soft treatment? It’s hard to imagine.

But this is Canberra, where the normal rules do not apply and the Chief Minister’s PR strategy is to freeze out the media – an approach that was revealed in 2018 when Barr was caught out telling communications specialists “I hate journalists” and “I’m over dealing with the mainstream media as a form of ­communication with the people of Canberra”.

The performance underscores the reality that the ACT is effectively a glorified municipal council. With a population a little greater than 450,000, there is no justification for the nation’s capital to have its Senate representation increased.

Yet Barr has suggested he could be open to quadrupling the number of ACT Senate seats. “I’ve heard six (seats). I’ve heard some people argue for 12. I think four is in the ballpark,” Barr told Shirley. “But I don’t rule out five, six, seven and eight.”

Asked if he would consider making the transition to federal politics – as former chief minister and now Finance Minister Katy Gallagher did – Barr left the door open, but reaffirmed his intention to run again as Chief Minister at the October 2024 election.

“You never rule anything in or out in politics,” he said.

“I am running for the next Territory election. What happens in the future is subject to many other things. I am getting older, that is true. I am 50. But I am not yet ready to retire.”

If Barr ever does make the transition to federal politics, he will need to change his approach to the media. And he can rule out the kind of soft treatment he ­received on Wednesday.