ACT election caretaker period under scrutiny | Bega District News

begadistrictnews.com.au · Feb 27, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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The ACT public service should be required to publish factual information it provides ministers in the lead-up to elections to give all candidates equal campaign footing, a parliamentary inquiry has found.Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue readingAll articles from our websiteThe digital version of Today's PaperAll other in your areaBut the committee's Labor member pulled rank and declared caretaker conventions had never intended to be an equality mechanism.Taimus Werner-Gibbings said requiring greater equality of information in post-election negotiations would be a revolutionary departure from Australian caretaker conventions."Absent that revolution, the ACT's caretaker conventions will - very properly - never serve to mitigate an imbalance of information," Mr Werner-Gibbings wrote in a dissenting report."Welcome to Westminster"The inquiry was established after Labor was accused of withholding key information about a possible health budget blowout before the 2024 election. It found no breaches of the caretaker conventions, but called for changes and suggested later elections should be considered to allow for more complete financial statements.Caretaker conventions guide how governments and the public service operate in the pre- and post-election period and are intended to prevent outgoing governments from making decisions that would bind new governments.A Legislative Assembly inquiry into caretaker conventions has made a series of recommendations for handling pre-election information. Picture by Keegan CarrollThe Legislative Assembly select committee recommended changes to caretaker guidance in the ACT and found "that existing caretaker conventions as observed in the Australian Westminster system result in an imbalance of information between parties during post-election negotiations to form government".Demand on the health system forced the government to spend more in early 2025 and led to a rapid decline in the territory's budget bottom line.The Liberals and Greens have sharply criticised the handling of the health information, with the Greens saying they did not have access to the full details in post-election negotiations which gave Labor the upper hand.Codifying caretaker rules rather than relying on conventions was not recommended but the committee did say the caretaker convention guidance should be tabled in the Assembly six months before the next election in 2028.The committee also found a lack of information for all parties leads to uncertainty in post-election talks.Mr Werner-Gibbings said the recommendation the public service publish factual information in the caretaker period should be struck from the report.'Increased culture of transparency'The committee - chaired by Greens leader Shane Rattenbury - said factual information should be systematically published in real time to "ensure symmetry of information for all parties during election time"."This would contribute to an increased culture of transparency of information and may also act to reinforce the formality of arrangements and provide an accountability mechanism for executive action during the election period," the committee said.The committee also said caretaker guidance should offer more information about the circumstances when the head of the ACT public service ought to provide briefs to an incoming government."It's incredible to see this presumption of continuous Labor government set down in black and white from the public service, while the votes were still being counted," the Greens' Andrew Braddock said last year.The committee acknowledged the criticism Ms Leigh acted in "unnecessary haste" and said "election night speeches, media coverage, or their own interpretation of the results may or may not be a reasonable or sufficient basis" to make the call on who should get the briefs.Mr Werner-Gibbings defended Ms Leigh's decision to provide Mr Barr with the information as the correct one."On all evidence available (indeed, on all evidence available 15 months later), there was no viable alternative Chief Minister with whom the Head of Service could begin engaging in the lead-up to the first sitting of the 11th Assembly," he said.The caretaker period began on September 13, 2024 and formally ended on November 6, when Mr Barr was re-elected by the Legislative Assembly to the position of chief minister.The caretaker convention inquiry heard hard copies of the incoming government brief were provided to Mr Barr's office on October 21.Negotiations between Labor and the Greens continued until late on November 5, the final night before the first sitting day of the 11th Assembly. The parties had spent more than 20 hours locked in talks, the inquiry heard.DailyYour morning newsToday's top stories curated by our news team.