Greens reject Cabinet spots but will back minority Labor Government

ACT Greens will support a minority Labor Government from the crossbench after rejecting an offer of cabinet positions in negotiations with ACT Labor that ended late last night (5 November).

The talks that have been ongoing since the 19 October election concluded with Labor unwilling to accept the Greens’ demands for some of their big-ticket promises on housing, climate and the environment to be part of any new governing agreement.

But a Labor spokeswoman said the parties had reached agreement on a large number of priority reforms for the coming parliamentary term.

“As a result of these discussions, the ACT Greens have indicated that they will support Andrew Barr as the Chief Minister and have guaranteed supply to the government,” she said.

“This will enable the formation of a minority ACT Labor Government.”

ACT Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury said the community showed at the election that it wanted more from this Legislative Assembly on housing, climate and the environment and business as usual wasn’t going to cut it.

“If we truly accept that the housing market is in crisis, and if we truly accept that our climate is in crisis, then we cannot in good conscience continue to deliver a business-as-usual approach to government when people and our planet are hurting,” he said.

Mr Rattenbury said the Greens had been willing to compromise, but Labor would not budge.

“In housing, ACT Labor was not prepared to commit to a single extra public home beyond their existing policy,” he said.

“On climate, we know that transport is responsible for 60 per cent of our emissions, but Labor was not willing to accelerate building light rail or invest properly in active travel.

“On the environment, they were not willing to commit to any specific funding which would scale up our ambition on environmental protection and restoration.”

As a result, the Greens have chosen to sit on the crossbench over the next four years where they would champion these issues, hold the government to account, and be a constructive, collaborative and progressive alternative to Labor.

Mr Rattenbury said he had written Chief Minister Andrew Barr asking for his support to commit to a number of key Greens policies in exchange for supporting him as Chief Minister, with details to be announced in the coming days.

“Labor and the Greens are currently finalising the text of an agreement that will commit to a number of key Greens policies in exchange for confidence and supply and support for Andrew Barr as Chief Minister,” he said.

“This document will be released shortly.”

The Labor spokeswoman said the offer of Cabinet positions was made to allow the two parties to work together in government on areas of policy reforms that the two parties had agreed on.

But both parties acknowledged that reaching agreement to work together in government was not going to come at any cost.

“During the negotiations, the ACT Greens indicated publicly that they were open to a different approach to their engagement in the 11th Legislative Assembly,” the spokeswoman said.

“Labor said from the outset that we would respect the Green’s internal process and allow it to reach a conclusion.”

She said the negotiations had been conducted in good faith and with mutual respect.

“The two parties have delivered a progressive policy agenda and stable government for Canberra over successive terms,” the spokeswoman said.

“We respect their decision and look forward to ongoing discussion with them, and the other members of the Assembly, to deliver good government, implement policy and pass legislation in the next term.”

The Greens lost two MLAs – ministers Emma Davidson and Rebecca Vassarotti – to be reduced to four in the new Assembly.