Page 1518 - Week 05 - Friday, 10 May 2019
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Over the first seven years of the territory’s existence there were various committees and commissions established to oversee the growth of the new nation’s capital and manage the affairs of the people here in Canberra. The debate about how much say local residents should have over the management of the small town, which then over time grew into a small city, was protracted. Various pre-self-government structures enabled some local representation, including committees, councils and the Legislative Assembly of the 1970s. The House of Assembly of the 1980s was even an elected version. But all of these bodies were still, at best, only to advise a federal minister for the territory.
From the early 1970s there had been much discussion about Canberra self-governing and about the many complexities of the financial arrangements, noting that the federal government funded the costs of developing and servicing the territory and its residents. There was a fear that the high level of servicing would fall and taxes would rise if self-government came in. Given the structural financial arrangements for the territory, this was always going to be a challenge for a small territory that was half national park.
When the Hawke government came to power in 1983, a clear commitment was made for the ACT to take charge of its own affairs. Minister Scholes was intent on shifting management of the territory from federal cabinet and on establishing a municipal government for the ACT to manage a range of state level responsibilities such as housing and community services and, over time, take control of all government functions that could be extracted from the commonwealth.
The proposed 1985 model for territory governance was quite similar to what we have today, with a single chamber council of 13 members, elected by optional preferential voting for four-year terms, the key difference being the 13 separate electorates. A key part of the model was not being a sole municipal government, meaning we would be part of state-federal financial relations and not have a lord mayor. Hence we are the only capital city today in Australia without a lord mayor, at least in a formal sense.
There were many years of detailed debate about exactly what self-government would look like and whether it should even happen at all. The Greens are pleased that we are now able to self-govern, and we believe that we are better and stronger as a territory as a result.
Since the ACT government first sat in May 1989, many things have happened locally, nationally and internationally, and the ACT has had to grow and evolve to adapt to these challenges. One major challenge continues to be managing public expectations against the capabilities of an ACT budget, noting that the federal government previously funded a very high level of amenity and services. The ACT also has a legacy of federally funded things like playgrounds more generously installed than in other states and creating an ongoing maintenance pressure that we will manage for decades to come. There are certainly difficulties in managing the territory budget without having a large amount of land like other states, thus having few royalties from natural resources and no large land bank for future income.
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