[Australian Capital Territory]: 2004 Australian Capital Territory General Election

[Owen]

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16 October 2004​

All 17 seats in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 9 seats needed for a majority​

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Leader:	Kate Carnell	Katy Gallagher (WON)	Deb Foskey	Roslyn Dundas
Party:	Liberal Party of Australia (Australian Capital Territory Division)	Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch)	ACT Greens	Australian Democrats (Australian Capital Territory Division)
Preferences:	Australian Democrats Australian Labor Party Australian Greens	Australian Greens Australian Democrats Liberal Party of Australia	Australian Democrats Australian Labor Party Liberal Party of Australia	Australian Greens Australian Labor Party Liberal Party of Australia
Ideology:	Conservatism Liberalism Liberal Conservatism	Social Democracy Democratic Socialism Social Liberalism	Green Politics Progressivism Anti-Neoliberalism	Social Liberalism Centrism Anti-Corruption
Leader since:	21 April 1993	19 March 1998	3 September 2004	1 June 2000
Leader's seat:	Molonglo	Molonglo	Molonglo	Ginninderra
Last election (seats):	5 seats	7 seats	3 seats	2 seats
Last election (percentage):	30%	40%	20%	10%
Last election (popular vote):	57,252	76,336	38,168	19,084
Seats won:	4 seats	7 seats	1 seat	5 seats
Seat change:	-1 seat	None	-2 seats	+3 seats
Popular vote:	41,950	83,900	31,462	52,437
Percentage:	20%	40%	15%	25%
Swing:	-10%	None	-5%	+15%

Election Results (members)​

Party:	Molonglo (7 seats):	Brindabella (5 seats):	Ginninderra (5 seats):
Liberal Party of Australia	Kate Carnell	Brendan Smyth Steve Pratt	Vicki Dunne
Australian Labor Party	Katy Gallagher Simon Corbell Ted Quinlan	John Hargreaves Karin MacDonald	Wayne Berry Jon Stanhope
Australian Greens	Deb Foskey	None	None
Australian Democrats	Fred Leftwich Robert Rose	Marc Emerson	Roslyn Dundas Roberta Wood

Election Results (percentages)​

Party:	Molonglo (7 seats):	Brindabella (5 seats):	Ginninderra (5 seats):
Liberal Party of Australia	18.6%	25.2%	16.8%
Australian Labor Party	39.7%	38.0%	42.6%
Australian Greens	17.7%	12.7%	13.7%
Australian Democrats	24.0%	24.1%	26.9%
QUOTA:	14.29%	20%	20%

Previous election Results (members)​

Party:	Molonglo (7 seats):	Brindabella (5 seats):	Ginninderra (5 seats):
Liberal Party of Australia	Kate Carnell Gary Humphries	Brendan Smyth Steve Pratt	Bill Stefaniak
Australian Labor Party	Katy Gallagher Simon Corbell Ted Quinlan	John Hargreaves Bill Wood	Wayne Berry Jon Stanhope
Australian Greens	Deb Foskey	Kathryn Kelly	Shane Rattenbury
Australian Democrats	Eric Bray	None	Roslyn Dundas

Previous election Results (percentages)​

Party:	Molonglo (7 seats):	Brindabella (5 seats):	Ginninderra (5 seats):
Liberal Party of Australia	31.9%	30.9%	24.4%
Australian Labor Party	38.0%	40.9%	42.0%
Australian Greens	21.0%	19.0%	19.6%
Australian Democrats	9.1%	9.2%	14.0%
QUOTA:	14.29%	20%	20%

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[Owen]

The election campaign in the ACT has drawn to a close with party leaders making their last appeals to the voting public. Tempers flared on ABC radio today as Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Liberal Leader Kate Carnell confronted each other in the final leaders' debate.

The Labor Party has campaigned on a message of strong leadership, while the Liberals want voters to focus on who they trust. Ms Carnell has been able to draw the positives from the latest newspaper poll, which has her slipping by 4 per cent in the preferred chief minister stakes.

"I think the fact that there's only a few percentage points between the Chief Minister and I is a better result than what most Opposition Leaders experience," he said. "So we actually take some heart from this. Ultimately, only tomorrow's poll will count." Ms Gallagher's standing has risen to 43 per cent.

Greens candidate Shane Rattenbury says his party has been buoyed by polls suggesting they could win up to four seats. "We just hope that the voters stick with us tomorrow, that they're inspired by the ideas, the energy and the vision that we've put down during this campaign and they do support the Greens when they go to the ballot box," he said.

Thirty thousand Canberrans have already cast their votes at pre-poll stations around the city. Phil Green from ACT Elections says voters have also embraced electronic voting, with paper votes down 26 per cent. "We've taken more electronic votes than we ever have before," he said. "I'm quite confident that we'll meet our target of over 30,000 votes, which is what I was hoping for."

Chief Executive of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland and ACT Minister for Sport and Recreation, Andrew Barr, announcing redevelopments for Manuka Oval.​

 

[Owen]

Leader:	Kate Carnell	Katy Gallagher	Deb Foskey	Roslyn Dundas
Party:	Liberal Party of Australia (Australian Capital Territory Division)	Australian Labor Party (Australian Capital Territory Branch)	ACT Greens	Australian Democrats (Australian Capital Territory Division)
Preferences:	Australian Democrats Australian Labor Party Australian Greens	Australian Greens Australian Democrats Liberal Party of Australia	Australian Democrats Australian Labor Party Liberal Party of Australia	Australian Greens Australian Labor Party Liberal Party of Australia
Ideology:	Conservatism Liberalism Liberal Conservatism	Social Democracy Democratic Socialism Social Liberalism	Green Politics Progressivism Anti-Neoliberalism	Social Liberalism Centrism Anti-Corruption
Leader since:	21 April 1993	19 March 1998	3 September 2004	1 June 2000
Leader's seat:	Molonglo	Molonglo	Molonglo	Ginninderra
Last election (seats):	5 seats	7 seats	3 seats	2 seats
Last election (percentage):	30%	40%	20%	10%
Last election (popular vote):	57,252	76,336	38,168	19,084
Seats won:	4 seats	7 seats	1 seat	5 seats
Seat change:	-1 seat	None	-2 seats	+3 seats
Popular vote:	41,950	83,900	31,462	52,437
Percentage:	20%	40%	15%	25%
Swing:	-10%	None	-5%	+15%

Election Results (members)​

Party:	Molonglo (7 seats):	Brindabella (5 seats):	Ginninderra (5 seats):
Liberal Party of Australia	Kate Carnell	Brendan Smyth Steve Pratt	Vicki Dunne
Australian Labor Party	Katy Gallagher Simon Corbell Ted Quinlan	John Hargreaves Karin MacDonald	Wayne Berry Jon Stanhope
Australian Greens	Deb Foskey	None	None
Australian Democrats	Fred Leftwich Robert Rose	Marc Emerson	Roslyn Dundas Roberta Wood

Election Results (percentages)​

Party:	Molonglo (7 seats):	Brindabella (5 seats):	Ginninderra (5 seats):
Liberal Party of Australia	18.6%	25.2%	16.8%
Australian Labor Party	39.7%	38.0%	42.6%
Australian Greens	17.7%	12.7%	13.7%
Australian Democrats	24.0%	24.1%	26.9%
QUOTA:	14.29%	20%	20%

The 2004 Australian Capital Territory election would end in complete gridlock. With the Democrats having a good night at the expense of the Liberals and the Greens, Labor would still be the largest party in the assembly but the path to a minority government would become increasingly difficult. Labor could no longer form a minority government with the Greens and would need to choose between the Liberals or the Democrats to form a minority government. The Democrats would now be in a position to become the official opposition in the ACT and would weigh up the decision to either be the official opposition or be in government with Labor. Likewise the Liberals would have a slimmer chance of forming minority government with Labor but would be more motivated to do so, whilst weighing up the potential electoral ramifications in the future with doing that.

After enough wielding and dealing and backroom meetings, Labor and the Democrats would formally come to an agreement to form a minority government with the Liberals becoming the official opposition and Deb Foskey from the Greens sitting on the crossbench.