Labor-Greens coalition retains power in the ACT

Labor and the Greens are on track to retain government in the Australian Capital Territory, extending the Left’s nearly two-decade rule of Canberra.

Labor and the Greens are on track to retain government in the Australian Capital Territory, extending the Left’s nearly two-decade rule of Canberra for another four years.

Both Chief Minister Andrew Barr’s Labor and the ACT Greens – the only Labor-Greens coalition in the country – have seen swings to them in Canberra’s south, and are set to win at least 13 seats in total.

Canberra Liberals leader Alistair Coe has seen a significant swing of more than 5 per cent to his party in the crucial northern seat of Yerrabi, but it has not been enough to stop swings to Labor and the Greens in the southern electorates of Brindabella and Kurrajong.

Labor are currently set to win 11 seats, the Greens is set to get three seats - an increase of one from the last election - and the Liberals are currently on eight seats.

Mr Barr told his Labor supporters in Canberra that his election victory - the ALP’s sixth since 2001 - was a testament to his government’s success handling coronavirus and the summer bushfires.

“We’ve had an extraordinary series of challenges thrown at us, as a city and as a community, and we’ve got through it because we’ve worked together,” he said

“We’ve got through it because we’ve applied progressive values to our government decisions and because we’ve applied compassion and we haven’t left people behind.

“We stepped in to protect Canberrans’ health, their businesses, and their jobs. And we’re going to keep working with our community as we emerge from this global health and economic crisis stronger than ever before.”

On the current numbers, Labor and the Greens will have enough seats to form a majority if they enter another coalition, or if the Greens support a minority ALP government.

Mr Barr told The Weekend Australian this week that it would be difficult to replicate his arrangement with the Greens nationally, saying his junior coalition partner is “more moderate” than other Greens division across the country.

The victorious ACT Chief Minister will have lead Canberra for six years in November, and said this week he will stay for the whole term barring family or health circumstances.

Mr Coe - who ran the campaign on a policy to free sky-righ rates for Canberra homeowners - told supporters he would continue to hold the Labor-Greens government to account.

“We advocated to empower families. We advocated to empower communities. We must continue to do all that we can to make Canberra the best place to live, work and raise a family,” he said.

“It has been an honour to be the leader of the Canberra Liberals. It is the greatest honour of my life.”