The road to self-government

On 11 May 1989, the ACT took control of its own affairs when its parliament – the Legislative Assembly – met for the first time. How was it run before then and what got it to this point?

How was the ACT run before self-government?

Before 1911, the area we now call the ACT was part of New South Wales and run by its government in Sydney. When it was handed over to become Australia’s new capital city, the federal government took over. They governed the then-Federal Capital Territory (its name changed in 1938) for 78 years from 1911 until 1989.

How were laws made?

When it was created, the ACT wasn’t a lawless wilderness. NSW laws that were in effect at the time of its transfer to federal control remained in force after 1911. It was subject to federal laws.

A federal minister responsible for the territory could also make ordinances. These were a local law made by decree that applied only to the ACT. The minister made ordinances without parliament. There was no debate or vote needed to create them. But the House or Senate could vote to stop an ordinance it didn’t like from coming in to force.

Did Canberrans have a say in how the ACT was run?

Members of the first Advisory Council, 1931
Source: Legislative Assembly collection (reuse policy)

In 1930, an Advisory Council was created to give feedback to the minister governing the ACT on how it was run. Canberrans elected three of the council’s members. But federal appointees held the remaining four seats. It could not make ordinances; it could only advise the minister.

The Council grew to 17 elected members by 1975 when it was renamed the House of Assembly. It still had no law-making function, which remained with the minister responsible for the ACT.

The last House of Assembly expired in 1986.

Reluctant democrats

By the mid-1970s, the ACT’s population had grown to more than 200,000 people. It was bigger than state capitals Hobart (160,000) and Darwin (39,000), both of which had local councils. It was also double the population of the Northern Territory (97,000), which the federal government was planning to make self-governing by 1979.

As a more-populous territory, the federal government thought to see if the people of the ACT also wanted self-government. A 1978 referendum asked Canberrans what type of government they preferred. The results show the majority who voted wanted to keep things as they were:

Results of the 1978 referendum on ACT self-government (Source: Elections ACT )

The federal government decided in 1988 to make the ACT self-governing in the mid-1980s, despite the referendum results. Clyde Holding, then-minister for territories, explained why by saying that it gave Canberrans the same democratic rights and responsibilities as all other Australians.

Federal parliament passed the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act in November 1988. It created the ACT as a ‘body politic under the Crown’: an autonomous political entity within and still part of Australia. The Self-Government Act serves as the Territory’s constitution.

Electing the first Assembly

The first election for the new Legislative Assembly occurred on 4 March 1989. It was the first time Canberrans could directly elect the people who governed them. They elected 17 members from a single multi-member electorate that covered the entire ACT.

It was an undeniably chaotic election thanks to the voting system used and how it was created. Because the ACT didn’t yet have its own parliament to write an electoral law, the federal parliament wrote one for its first election. Unfortunately, politicking meant it was changed so much and so many bits added and removed that parliament created a Frankenstein’s monster of an electoral system.

One problem it created was that the threshold to register as a political party was too low. This led to the emergence of joke parties like the Party! Party! Party! Party, Sun-ripened Warm Tomato Party, and Surprise Party. As every party was entitle to a column on the ballot paper, it also created a 22-column, metre-long voting sheet. Another problem was that its counting process was very complex. This resulted in a two-month delay for the final results.

It also produced a five-party parliament with no majority:

Results of the 1989 ACT election (Source: Elections ACT )

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