news, act-politics

The final make-up of the Legislative Assembly has been confirmed, with no last-day surprises from preferences. Former reverend turned Labor candidate Gordon Ramsay held on to beat minister and party colleague Chris Bourke in the Belconnen seat of Ginninderra, while the Liberals Nicole Lawder took out the fifth seat in Brindabella. Mr Ramsay finished the count 722 votes ahead of Greens candidate Indra Esguerra and Ms Lawder was 553 votes ahead of Labor candidate Angie Drake. Mr Bourke said he was disappointed with the result but was honoured to have been the first Aboriginal elected to the Assembly. "I'm pleased to have been able to play my part in a progressive, reformist ACT Labor government," he said. After four years as the Assembly's only Green, Shane Rattenbury will be joined by Caroline Le Couteur, a past Greens MLA from 2008 to 2012, who took the final seat in the Woden-Weston electorate of Murrumbidgee by 800 votes ahead of Liberal candadite Peter Hosking. Ms Le Couteur said she was pleased and humbled to double the Greens representation in the Assembly. "I really look forward to representing the people of Murrumbidgee and the people of Canberra as a whole," she said. While Ms Le Couteur said public transport and light rail were key issues, they weren't the only ones concerning the people of her electorate. She highlighted affordable housing and cleaning up politics in the ACT as other issues the Greens will pursue in the new term. "I'm looking forward to being part of establishing an ICAC in the ACT, and I think it's great that that will happen as a result of our election," she said. The party wouldn't be drawn on speculation of joining the ministry, citing benefits in both the crossbench and a ministerial position. The final result delivered Labor 12 members, the Liberals 11 and the Greens two. Electoral Commissioner Phil Green released the names of the elected candidates on Saturday afternoon, after the distribution of preferences was completed. "It's been a very full-on process," said Mr Green. "It's not an especially close election, but every preference counts in Hare-Clark, we had to make sure we had all those preferences counted before we made a final announcement." "The results show quite clear differences between the candidates who won those fifth seats and the ones who just missed out. There's several hundred votes in most cases between those who won and those who didn't," he said. Mr Green said counting was helped by the record number of almost one in three Canberrans who voted electronically, more than 81,000 people. With Labor and the Greens having confirmed they will continue to form government, ACT Labor will become the longest continuous serving government of any state and territory since the Northern Territory's Country Liberals reign of 27 years ended in 2001. Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the new Assembly would enable greater representation for a growing Canberra. "I would like to congratulate the successful candidates who will serve our community in the ACT Legislative Assembly for the next four years," he said. The candidates elected, in the order in which they were successful in the count, are: Brindabella Ginninderra Kurrajong Murrumbidgee Yerrabi

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