Far from chaos or quagmire, the result of power-sharing in the ACT has been a reforming Parliament that has served as a “laboratory of democracy” for other Australian jurisdictions to learn from and take inspiration.
Tue 12 May 2026 01.00 AEST
Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
This week, Greens parliamentarian Shane Rattenbury leaves the ACT Parliament after 18 years in the balance of power in the ACT Parliament. His almost two-decade run is a record for an MP in a Westminster democracy, the political system Australia inherits from the United Kingdom.
During that time, the Labor Government has depended on Greens support – either providing confidence and supply to a minority Labor government or taking ministries in a Labor–Greens coalition government.
Most Australian jurisdictions have had some kind of power-sharing parliament in the last forty years, but none have had as many as the ACT – with 10 of its 11 parliaments being ones where no one party had total control.
Far from chaos or quagmire, the result of power-sharing has been a reforming Parliament that has served as a “laboratory of democracy” for other Australian jurisdictions to learn from and take inspiration.
Here are five progressive, effective reforms from 18 years of Labor/Greens power-sharing:
In 2020, the ACT became just the second state or territory to adopt truth in political advertising laws.
A private member’s bill from Greens backbencher Caroline Le Couteur passed unanimously, with Labor, Liberal and Greens MPs all speaking in favour.
The laws were in force for the 2024 election where, remarkably, there was only a single misleading ad that needed to be withdrawn and retracted.
The ACT is the first Australian jurisdiction to transition from fossil fuel-based supply to 100% renewable energy, along with adopting other emissions reduction and net-zero targets.
The clever mechanism used to fund renewables projects, called a reverse auction, would later be adopted by other states.
The ACT has banned battery hens, hen debeaking, sow stalls, and puppy and kitten farms, and effected an end to greyhound racing in the territory by ending taxpayer subsidies for the industry.
Cats born in 2022 and onwards must be kept inside, or taken out only on a leash, to spare native wildlife from predation.
Globally, the median age of criminal responsibility is 14 – but in Australia it is as low as 10-years-old, meaning small children can be locked up in prison. The ACT has raised the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, in line with the majority opinion of Australians.
More broadly, the ACT’s justice reinvestment policies put the savings from lower incarceration rates towards crime prevention and rehabilitation.
Legislation introduced by Mr Rattenbury now means institutions can be held liable for sexual abuse perpetrated by their officials, like priests or scout leaders, even if they are not technically “employees” of the institution.
In theory, Australian governments have committed to a harm minimisation approach to drug abuse since the 1980s. In practice, the ACT has come closer than any other jurisdiction.
The ACT trialled pill testing at music festivals, a model adopted or considered in other states and widely supported by Australians across the country. There is now a standing drug testing facility in the city, which issues regular alerts when mislabelled, adulterated and unfamiliar drugs are detected.
The Drug and Alcohol Court, founded in 2019, finds alternatives to imprisonment for those charged with drug offences, with an academic study finding that the court appeared to be working well, with positive outcomes for most participants and reduced re-offending.
Thanks to private member’s bills from Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson, possession of small amounts of drugs has been decriminalised.
These are just five of the progressive, ambitious policies the Australia Institute has identified from 18 years of Labor/Greens power-sharing in the ACT.
The strength of Australia’s federal system is that good policies can be developed and tested in one jurisdiction, then picked up by others when they are proven to work.
Australia Institute polling research has found that even some of the ACT’s more radical policies are broadly popular among Australians, paving the way for them to be adopted elsewhere.
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