ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr (left) discussing Canberra issues with Labor’s federal representatives David Smith, Andrew Leigh, Katy Gallagher and Alicia Payne. Photo: Region.
The Federal Government has further formalised a working partnership with the ACT Government to prioritise infrastructure and other joint projects for Canberra.
The informal and ad hoc meetings between Labor MPs from both jurisdictions during the last term of the Federal Parliament have morphed into a firm partnership going into the second term.
Finance Minister and ACT Senator Katy Gallagher was joined at Parliament House by the ACT’s three Lower House MPs on Wednesday morning (18 June) to discuss an action plan with ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and members of his front bench.
Partnerships over major roads, light rail, the convention centre and sports and health facilities were top of the agenda.
With Labor’s extremely close call in the seat of Bean at the recent federal election, the southern suburbs of Canberra have suddenly become a greater priority for both levels of government.
Labor’s margin in Bean was reduced from 12.9 per cent to just 0.3 per cent following an impressive campaign from independent Jessie Price.
Mr Barr confirmed the ACT’s southern suburbs will be getting some extra attention.
“Certainly, the southside is a particular focus for the Territory government and I’m sure it is also for the federal colleagues,” he said.
“The issue being, not the Labor vote but the Liberal vote collapsed … We’re in a new era of politics where the Liberal Party’s two-party-preferred vote in the ACT has collapsed to about 27 per cent, so they are now not competitive. They are not coming second in most of the Lower House seats.
“I’m sure if you ask the Liberal Party, they would say they intend to improve on their parlous position in the ACT.
“We’re certainly not going to assume they are going to do that. We will remain locally, and I’m sure federally, on the issues that are before us and implementing our shared plan.
“That’s what we’re focused on and that’s what we’re doing today.”
Senator Gallagher said the roundtable was all about “delivering for Canberra and delivering for Canberrans” and working across our two levels of government, “to make sure that we are looking at all the opportunities that come from having four federal reps and the ACT and MLAs”.
“I’m really excited. This really formalises the process that the Chief Minister and I have been working on for some time.
“In the first term of the Albanese government, we met regularly. We put together the capital framework, which set out the projects and issues we need to work on.”
Senator Gallagher, a former ACT Chief Minister, said that for most of her time in politics, the Territory lacked a Commonwealth government willing to work with the ACT Government.
“That was the story of my time in the Assembly,” the Minister said.
“So the opportunity to come here, and it started in the first term, is really, I think, giving us an opportunity to cut through, to make some decisions to deliver.
“That’s the message the Prime Minister has given to us as his Cabinet ministers, and it’s one that we take away and want to deal with here.”
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr have formalised talks between their two teams to progress policy initiatives for Canberra. Photo: Region.
Mr Barr said he and Senator Gallagher were “working very well together” to implement a shared plan for Canberra.
“We took our local plan to the Territory election in 2024, and the federal team looked at that, and in terms of what was put forward as part of a national agenda for Labor,” he said.
“And there were many elements of that which aligned with the direction of policy here in the ACT.
“We saw in the May federal election a very clear position from federal Labor led by the Prime Minister, but locally by Katy and the House of Representatives members to back in that agenda for Canberra.
“The National Capital Framework is the overarching policy framework for this. In short, we can achieve a lot more together and achieve it more quickly through this alignment.”
The plan is for both governments to work around the sitting schedules for the Federal Parliament and the ACT Assembly and meet about once a quarter.
And how long will these meetings last each time?
“Between us, I think we chair a good meeting and an efficient meeting,” Mr Barr said.
“So we’ll work through the agenda this morning, but we intend for this to be a regular thing.”
In other words, a short meeting is a good meeting.
