Australian Capital Territory legislative election, 1989
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5Elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly were held on Saturday, 4 March 1989. This was the first direct election by voters in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for their own legislative body.
The Labor Party, led by Rosemary Follett, and the Liberal Party, led by Trevor Kaine, were the main challengers. Candidates were elected to fill seats using a modified D'Hondt method for a multi-member single constituency. The result was a hung parliament. However, Labor, with the largest representation in the 17-member unicameral Assembly, formed Government with the support of various non-aligned minor parties. Follett was elected the first Chief Minister at the first sitting of the first Assembly on 11 May 1989.
The Australian Capital Territory was established in 1911, initially called the Federal Capital Territory. The Territory was carved out of the state of New South Wales to make way for the site of the capital of Australia. As the Territory grew, particularly the city of Canberra from the 1960s, there were increasing calls for some form of self-government. There were a number of appointed and elected advisory bodies between 1920 and 1986. The main elected representative body of the ACT was the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly that sat from 1975 to 1986. This House served primarily as an advisory body, with most legislative powers managed by the Federal Minister for the Territories, under section 122 of the Australian Constitution. In an advisory referendum held in 1978, voters in the ACT rejected a proposal for self-government, with 63% voting in favour of the proposition that the 'present arrangements for governing the Australian capital should continue for the time being'. Thirty percent of voters favoured self-government with a locally elected body with state-like powers, and 6% voted for a locally elected body with powers and functions similar to those of local government. In spite of the referendum outcome, in 1983, the federal Labor government of Prime Minister Bob Hawke set up a Self-Government Task Force to report on the government of the ACT. Further, it wanted to force the ACT into line with the states on funding levels and, in late 1988, the Australian Government passed the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act, allowing for the self-government of the ACT.
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