Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 20 October 2001. The incumbent Liberal Party, led by Gary Humphries, was challenged by the Labor Party, led by Jon Stanhope. Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system. The result was another hung parliament. However Labor, with the largest representation in the 17-member unicameral Assembly, formed Government with the support of the ACT Greens and Democrats. Stanhope was elected Chief Minister at the first sitting of the fifth Assembly on 12 November 2001. The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission and was the first time in Australia's history that an electronic voting and counting system was used for some, but not all, polling places.
Key dates
Party registration closed: 13 September 2001
Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 14 September 2001
Rolls closed: 21 September 2001
Nominations closed: 26 September 2001
Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 27 September 2001
Pre-poll voting commenced: 2 October 2001
Polling day: 20 October 2001
Scrutiny completed: 1 November 2001
Poll declared: 5 November 2001
Legislative Assembly formed: 12 November 2001
Overview
The incumbent centre-right Liberal Party, led by Chief Minister Gary Humphries, attempted to win election for a first time in his own right as Liberal leader, yet a third term after the Liberals had come to power in 1995. They were challenged by the opposition centre-left Labor Party, led by Jon Stanhope, who assumed the Labor leadership in March 1998. A third party, the ACT Greens, held one seat in the Assembly through sitting member, Kerrie Tucker, as well as several minor parties that had been a feature of ACT politics up until this election.
The election saw all 17 members of the Assembly face re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly is divided into three electorates: five-member Brindabella (including Tuggeranong and parts of the Woden Valley) and Ginninderra (including Belconnen and suburbs) and seven-member Molonglo (including North Canberra, South Canberra, Gungahlin, Weston Creek, and the remainder of the Woden Valley). Election dates are set in statute to occur once every four years; the government has no ability to set the election date.
Following the 1998 election outcome, the Liberals held seven seats; the opposition Labor held six seats, the Osborne independents of Paul Osborne and Dave Rugendyke holding two seats; the Greens holding one seat; and Michael Moore also holding one seat.
During 2000, Chief Minister, Kate Carnell, faced continual criticism over cost blowouts in the redevelopment of Bruce Stadium. Eventually, when faced with a vote of no confidence, Carnell resigned as Chief Minister in October 2000. Her deputy, Gary Humphries, was elected as her replacement. Carnell subsequently resigned from the Assembly on 17 October 2000 and was replaced by Jacqui Burke on 13 January 2001.
The 2001 ACT Legislative Assembly election represented a major milestone in the conduct of elections in Australia with the first use of electronic voting at polling places for parliamentary elections. This election also saw the introduction of electronic counting of ballots for the first time in the ACT.
Meninga candidacy
The 2001 campaign is perhaps best remembered for the short-lived candidacy of rugby league veteran Mal Meninga, AM. On Monday, 24 September 2001, Meninga declared his candidacy for the ACT Legislative Assembly, running for the electorate of Molonglo. Moments after announcing that he would run for election, Meninga pulled out mid-sentence: "And the thing about that is, I guess, I was a public figure and I was put on the podium where I was just a person out there . . . I'm buggered, I'm sorry, I have to resign." Subsequently, this incident led to the satirical Chaser team instituting the 'Mal Award' for their election television shows, presented to politicians "for the greatest act of political suicide during an election campaign".
Candidates
Sitting members at the time of the election are listed in bold. Tickets that elected at least one MLA are highlighted in the relevant colour. Successful candidates are indicated by an asterisk (*).
Retiring Members
Independent
Michael Moore (Molonglo)