Canberra voters expected to 'really start paying attention', with all candidates now locked in

Less than three weeks out from when Canberrans will cast their votes, we now know exactly what the 2024 ballot paper will look like.

At an event at the ACT Legislative Assembly yesterday (25 September), ACT Electoral Commissioner Damian Cantwell confirmed the names of all the candidates running for each of the ACT’s five electorates.

He also led the ballot-draw process to determine the order in which each party and candidate will appear on the ballot paper.

An electronic random number generator was used for this, rather than the more lottery-style approach used in Federal elections, where candidates for each house are assigned small numbered balls, which are then placed in a rotating metal cage and pulled out at random.

The process, called ‘Robson Rotation’, remains the same and is designed to avoid the influence of the so-called ‘donkey vote’, where voters number candidates in the order in which they appear on the paper.

“That’s the best way we can assure the community, and the candidates and parties, that it’s a fair and even process, and that there is no bias in terms of determining how the ballot papers appear across each of the electorates,” Mr Cantwell explained.

“It’s important to make sure that we retain the trust and confidence the community has to have in the system and the processes.”

All up, there are 149 candidates across 12 parties, including seven running as ungrouped independents.

Parties include ACT Labor, ACT Greens, Animal Justice Party, Belco Party, Canberra Liberals, Family First, Fiona Carrick Independent, First Nation Party, Independents for Canberra, Labour DLP, Libertarian Party and Strong Independents.

“We’ve got more candidates than we had last election and it’s a great reflection upon the sense of democratic energy in the community,” Mr Cantwell said.

“We welcome the candidates as they’ve been nominated and declared, and good luck to them.”

Current ACT Greens member and candidate for Kurrajong Shane Rattenbury said the event “really does mark the start of when the candidates and the people really start paying attention”.

Fiona Carrick, running for Murrumbidgee, said her team of volunteers will be out in earnest “on the roads with banners, at the shops, letterboxing” in these final weeks.

“We know where we are on the ballot now. There’s not long to go until early voting, and so we’ll be out there, talking to the community,” she said.

“There’s a mood for change, there’s a mood for something else, and we’re hearing that across the electorate, so we’re feeling pretty good about it.”

In the nick of time, Independents for Canberra announced four additional candidates on Wednesday morning, bringing their total to 20.

Kathleen Bolt, a Nyangbal-Githabal-Bandjalang-Widjabal woman, joins the team as a support candidate for Murrumbidgee alongside Robert Knight, former federal and ACT political candidate for the Canberra Progressives.

Suzanne Nucifora, an advocate for community and sustainability, will run for Ginninderra, and Elise Searson, an advocate for women’s and children’s safety, for the electorate of Brindabella.

“When we first launched Independents for Canberra in late January, I was the only person putting my hand up as a candidate,” party lead Thomas Emerson said.

“We were optimistic the movement would grow but had no idea how many people would put themselves forward as candidates. The groundswell of support around this movement has been remarkable.”

Canberra Liberals were running five candidates in Ginninderra – Chiaka Barry, Peter Cain, Joe Prevedello, Darren Roberts and Elizabeth Kikkert – until allegations of bullying of party staff came to light on Kikkert.

Kickket has moved to represent Family First in the electorate, and the Liberals haven’t found a replacement in time.

The ACT election will be held on Saturday, 19 October, with voting open at polling places between 8 am and 6 pm. Postal voting opens on 30 September, followed by early voting at select polling places from 8 October. A list of all candidates and their electorates can be viewed here.

Visit Elections ACT for more information.