Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury says the Chief Minister’s job was on the table. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury has admitted for the first time that the Chief Minister’s job was on the table in talks between the minor party and the Liberals on how they could share power in a coalition ACT government.
Mr Rattenbury also told ABC Radio what common policy areas there might be and which ones would be quarantined.
Tuesday morning’s interview followed party statements that would not explicitly acknowledge this aspect of the talks and a previous radio spot in which Mr Rattenbury played down his interactions with the Liberals, saying journalists were getting carried away.
Mr Rattenbury also denied that his ambition to be the ACT’s first Green chief minister was driving the talks.
He said a whole range of tactics had been discussed, everything from passing motions in the Legislative Assembly through to a possible change of government.
Asked whether that included the Chief Minister’s job, Mr Rattenbury said: “That was on the table.”
Pressed whether it would involve sharing the job with Opposition Leader Mark Parton over the term, Mr Rattenbury said: “Yeah, we’ve seen these sorts of models operate in Europe where parties … that come from different parts of the political spectrum come together and find a shared power arrangement.”
Mr Rattenbury said it was about getting better outcomes for the community from government in areas such as funding for the environment, housing supply, helping small business, Phillip pool and public transport. However, light rail would be quarantined, as would LGBTQIA rights and the ACT’s climate goals.
“I think most people’s honest reaction is this couldn’t possibly work, but if you sit down and think about it, can you find a shared policy agenda that is about getting better outcomes, fixing issues like Phillip Pool, where we’re seeing intransigence from the government to finding a good community solution there?” Mr Rattenbury said.
He said the focus of the talks had been on community frustration about the things that were not being fixed, the government’s complacency across a range of areas, and how they might be approached differently.
Mr Rattenbury portrayed the Labor Government as fixed and rigid.
“We’ve got all sorts of issues in the city where the Labor Party feels like they’re either not willing to act, they don’t know how to act, or they’re fixed into a position they’ve been in so long that they don’t know how to move,” he said.
Mr Rattenbury said no firm agreement had been reached with the Liberals and the talks were on hold while the Greens prepared for next week’s sitting of the Assembly, for which he has pledged to Chief Minister Andrew Barr that there would not be a confidence vote.
But he did not rule out such a vote in the future.
Mr Rattenbury acknowledged that it would be a challenge to win over the Greens’ membership to agree to any deal.
“We have gone to our management committee and had a conversation, and out of that we’ve said we need to talk more to our membership,” he said.
Mr Rattenbury said he had heard a mix of views when talking to members at the weekend.
He denied that ego and ambition were behind the push for a deal with the Liberals.
“I think people who know me would know that is not the thing that motivates me,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“Of course, detractors are going to say that, people who don’t agree with you, or don’t want something like this to possibly happen, will run those sort of attack lines, but people who know me well know that that is not the way I operate.”
