Elizabeth Lee is keeping it simple and won’t be pinned down. For now. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee is playing a canny game at this point in the election year.
Seven months out, Ms Lee does not have to show her hand. Apart from putting the kybosh on light rail, she has kept commitments and policy positions to a minimum.
It’s a classic small-target, mean-all-things-to-all-people strategy. While journalists are miffed at their questions being deflected, it is perfectly legitimate for her to bide her time.
After the 2019 unlosable election, Anthony Albanese swapped the Shorten manifesto for a more generalist and less vulnerable approach.
And who can forget John Howard’s 1996 “relaxed and comfortable” campaign that suggested little change would occur?
Ms Lee’s focus remains on the government’s economic performance, particularly reframing budget numbers to “reveal” the “true” state of affairs – inflating the official deficit by a few hundred million to hit the much more scary billion-dollar figure.
Apparently, the ACT has its own unique methodology, so Ms Lee applied the accounting procedure used in other jurisdictions.
She has also called on the government to be more upfront with its $8 billion infrastructure spending estimates and highlighted the $18 billion debt waiting down the forward estimates.
But of course, she is keeping quiet about her infrastructure plans, while the government counters with the obvious jab about what Ms Lee will cut.
Well, light rail stage 2B, for one, although it looks like we’ll be waiting a while for what might replace it. And she certainly won’t be committing to cutting or deferring anything yet, if at all.
Ms Lee’s turn at the Property Council’s recent ACT Economic Outlook event gave her the opportunity to dramatise the budget numbers, although she may not have welcomed the visiting economist’s rosy view of the ACT economy, and to offer a couple of titbits to a friendly audience.
No limit on dual occupancy dwelling size in RZ1 zones, a review of the maligned Lease Variation Charge and a boost to land release.
But that’s a review, not a repeal. On land release, West Tuggeranong remains on the table, but it is subject to a feasibility study, which the government has already done.
Also on the table and potential chopping block is the government’s tax reform program, but again, we’ll have to wait, probably until she is Chief Minister for that one.
She was even asked about the stadium, but she chose her words carefully. The preference was for a city site and “we’ll have more to say”, holding out the prospect that a Liberal Government would deliver it to the true believers.
The government has already done the work on the Civic pool site and found it too small and prohibitive to develop. So what does Ms Lee know that others don’t?
That’s not really the point.
At this stage of the year, it’s more about positioning.
Ms Lee can afford to be all care and no responsibility, but as the election edges close the pressure will increase to bring more clarity, even transparency, to her party’s positions.
But her team needs to be on the same page. A bit of Labor scuttlebutt suggests her party room may not be united on dumping light rail.
Planning spokesperson Peter Cain certainly invited conjecture with his comments on radio last week when asked about Stage 2B and talked about “hitting pause”, not dumping the project.
Picked up on this, Mr Cain’s response was curious.
He said every election created a new team and government.
“So every decision that is made within a term by that government or shadow government is made by the particular team, so I can’t read the mind of the next shadow cabinet.
“So when I say hit pause, we will not go to Woden if we’re the next team, that’s the statement of the Canberra Liberals leader. Hit pause, and we won’t do it; it’s the same thing.
“We will invest in more public transport through an electric bus network. There’ll be more to say about that in the months to come.”
Mr Cain called it a subtlety. But it was clear as mud and that’s something his leader can ill afford. Ms Lee will want him to stick to the party line and hang the nuance, not muddy the waters on such an important issue.
Eventually, journalists will press Ms Lee for more detail, for example, on infrastructure and reconciling commitments that will impact revenue with spending offsets.
At the moment, all we know is that everything will be “fully costed”.
Certainly, Chief Minister Andrew Barr will have the blowtorch ready and the inevitable scare campaign about cuts to programs and projects.
The small target strategy can only go so far in a city full of detail people.
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