The ACT’s first Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, almost wasn’t. In a tell-all account of Canberra’s first self government, written by former Chief Minister Gary Humphries, there was a desperate bid by the opposition to form a coalition to topple the Labor minority government.

Gary Humphries is a uni student again (on a considerably higher income than when he studied there in the 1980s) and he’s writing a thesis, History of ACT Self-Government 1988-2001. Don’t let the title put you off; it’s a real page-turner.

Mr Humphries recalls that on the morning the Assembly was to meet for the first time to elect the first government, a meeting was held of the nine newly-elected MLAs from the Canberra Liberal Party, Residents Rally and Abolish Self Government Coalition, in a bid to prevent the Labor Party forming the first government.

“These nine MLAs had the numbers between them to choose the first chief minister,” he says. “The plan was to elect Liberal leader Trevor Kaine as chief minister, however he was afraid the deal would fall apart and that he would miss out on the ‘consolation prize’ of being opposition leader. So rather than go for the role of Chief Minister, he stormed out of the room.”

The rest is history. Mr Humphries admits it’s “strange” to be back on campus but says his university days as ANU Students Association president was where he cut his teeth on politics.

“On the campus we had real out and out communists and socialists on campus denouncing capitalism, denouncing the patriarchy,” Mr Humphries recalls. “So, I had to think, why do I believe in capitalism? You had to think through your position in those days.”

Mr Humphries says he started writing his thesis out of “sheer panic”.

“No-one had written anything about the ACT, there were no journalistic accounts, no memoirs by former members,” he says. “This is a really interesting chapter in Australia political history. It’s the last time we will see a new political entity emerge in the Australian federation.”

Canberrans didn’t actually want self-government – 63 per cent voted against it in a referendum.

“This was still in an age when there were liberation movements in various parts of the world where people were dying for the right to be self-governing over colonial powers and here’s the ACT population adamantly insisting they should not be self-governing, thank you very much.  We’re very happy with the Commonwealth to run our affairs and look after us.”

ANU Press plans to publish the thesis next year, and after that, Mr Humphries hopes to get ACT Liberal Leader Elizabeth Lee across the line.  “I’m the last Liberal chief minister,” he laughs. “I originally thought that when I used the word ‘last’ I meant in the sense – George VI was the last king of England – but I’m using it now in the sense that Nicholas II was the last tzar of Russia.” 

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