A party of community independents will contest this year's ACT election under the direction of Canberra barrister Clare Carnell — the daughter of former ACT chief minister Kate Carnell.
Key points:
- Independents for Canberra will contest October's ACT election
- The party is inspired by Senator David Pocock's success at the last federal election
- Senator Pocock says the Hare-Clark system makes it difficult for independents to be elected in the ACT
Ms Carnell — who is also a lecturer in law at the Australian National University — has joined forces with Thomas Emerson who is currently an adviser for Senator David Pocock, to establish Independents for Canberra.
The group is hoping to replicate the success of independent Senator Pocock at the last federal election.
Until recently, Ms Carnell was a member of the Liberal Party.
She will not nominate as a candidate in the election but will instead focus on "finding and coordinating dynamic candidates and campaigns".
"We want candidates who have never considered entering politics," she said in a statement.
"We want fresh perspectives, not career politicians.
"There are talented people all across the ACT who see Canberra's potential and would make fantastic MLAs.
"It's time to bring them together and get them elected."
Ms Carnell said the current government was failing the territory and a "new and viable alternative" was needed.
"It's time for change — and having heard that so often for so long, we're launching Independents for Canberra to achieve that," she said.
Senator Pocock's adviser to contest October election
Mr Emerson — the son of former federal Labor minister Craig Emerson — is running as a candidate in the electorate of Kurrajong.
He said he believed the time was ripe for a shake-up given the Labor-Greens government had been in power for 22 years.
"[Labor] has stopped listening to Canberrans," he said.
"People across the city from all different backgrounds and beliefs feel unheard, ignored, forgotten — even disrespected — by this government."
Mr Emerson said the Greens were no longer able to offer a dissenting voice since forming government and the Canberra Liberals were not a "viable alternative" due to internal division.
Currently, he said he did not have any policy positions but would be developing some in the coming months through "genuine consultation with our community".
"We're focused on putting principles ahead of policy," Mr Emerson said.
"Some of the frustrations we've heard are around policy being developed behind closed doors.
"We're focusing on ensuring every voice is heard [and] making decisions based on the needs of our communities, not vested interests."
Mr Emerson would not say which party he would form government with should he hold the balance of power.
"If I'm elected, I'll support a leader who's ready to work constructively to deliver better results for our community," he said.
The party is currently self-funded.
'Hare-Clark system difficult for independents'
In a statement, Senator Pocock said Australians had shown they wanted independents who could represent their communities ahead of party interests.
"The Hare-Clark system makes it extremely difficult for independents to get elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly," he said.
"I think more choice is a great thing for our democracy so I commend anyone willing to put their hand up to work hard to represent their community on the issues that matter to them."
Only four independents have sat in the ACT Legislative Assembly since self-government in 1989 and no independent has been elected since 1998.
Two other independents, former chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia Peter Strong, and medical scientist and former diplomat Ann Bray, announced their candidacies earlier this month.
Fiona Carrick, who contested the 2020 election, stepped down from her role as Woden Valley Community Council president in order to begin assembling a group of independents in the electorate of Murrumbidgee.
She hasn't confirmed yet if her name will be on the ballot paper.
ACT Labor unveils team of 25 candidates
Chief Minister Andrew Barr welcomed more Canberrans putting their hand up to be elected to the Legislative Assembly as "a sign of the strength of our democracy".
But he rejected Mr Emerson's criticism that his Labor-Greens government was not available to its constituents and didn't listen to them.
He said it was hard to incorporate every view on any given issue.
"It's very clear in modern times that government is challenging, that people have a very high expectation of engagement with their elected representatives and that that process involves needing to hear from a very diverse range of opinion," he said.
"[But] in a democracy not everyone gets 100 per cent of what they want all the time, and if that's the expectation – that every single consultation will leave every single citizen that has participated 100 per cent happy – that's a very difficult challenge to meet in any public consultation."
This morning ACT Labor unveiled its team of 25 candidates that it will take to the election.
Nine of the party's 10 incumbent MLAs are recontesting, with Member for Brindabella and Legislative Assembly Speaker Joy Burch retiring.
Two former Brindabella candidates are among those who will vie to take her place.
They are Brendan Forde – an adviser to federal MP David Smith – and Taimus Werner-Gibbings, who narrowly missed out on winning a third seat for Labor in 2020.
After winning a preselection ballot, Mr Werner-Gibbings was briefly dropped as a Labor candidate to meet the party's affirmative action rules but was later reinstated.
Mr Barr said Labor's candidates reflected the community.
"We have people aged in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s," he said.
"We have a very good gender balance, we have cultural diversity, we have experience and commitment to Canberra across a wide variety of community activities, of different areas of the professions, of our economy."
The Canberra Liberals are yet to announce their 2024 election candidates.
The ACT election will be held in October.