I am optimistic that this new Assembly will be an improvement on the last one. 

For starters, the ALP will govern as a minority government and the end of the old Green/Labor coalition will be good for both parties and for Canberra. 

The Assembly has ten ALP members – eight ministers and two backbenchers (the new Tuggeranong MLAs who will need to learn the ropes). Good call Andrew. I would have liked to see only six or seven ministers, but at least Barr’s administrative arrangements are an improvement on last time when he had to invent ministries to pander to the Greens’ interests 

The two new independents will bring a breath of fresh air into the place, and I’m pleased to see Tom Emerson include, as a condition of guaranteeing supply, that the Labor government conduct an independent inquiry into our justice system, and hopefully get the government to adopt a few of the improvements to sport that the Canberra Independents and other parties contesting the last election called for.

The appointment of Liberal Mark Parton as speaker was a great move. Nominated by the Chief Minister himself, the move seems to have surprised everyone. Mark should make a very good speaker due to his wealth of experience in the Assembly and because he is such an experienced, genial and decent person. Mark, just be yourself and remember a good speaker needs to be fair, firm and friendly, which you will do in a canter. There is a precedent. In 2012, Shane Rattenbury nominated Liberal Vikki Dunne as speaker. It frees up a Labor member to be a minister, and in this case, gives Labor a tidy eight experienced people for the ministry with the two newbies becoming the backbench. 

Now, I don’t normally say nice things about the Greens but well done to them on deciding to rejoin the crossbench. It means there will need to be a much greater emphasis on collegiality this time around. Crazy Green ideas will not be accepted by Labor because they no longer have to pander to the Greens. They can safely vote against such proposals in the knowledge that the Liberals will support them in doing so. Similarly, unpopular Labor initiatives will either fail or be significantly altered before they can get up. Also, a good Liberal idea that gets the support of the Greens and independents will also be able to get up and the same applies to any good ideas for the independents and the Greens. 

The new arrangement gives Andrew Barr a chance to ditch some unworkable policies he felt compelled to bring forward due to the Greens being in government. I wonder if stage 2B of the tram is one such policy he will now be able to ditch if he feels that it should not be a priority as we simply can’t afford it. I hope he may still do that. Watch this space.

My advice to the Liberals is this: put up lots of good private members’ bills and motions that will benefit the territory so that either the Greens and/or Labor will back them. Ten Labor members and nine Liberals, or even nine Liberals and four Greens, make up a majority. The same goes for Fiona and Tom—you will need either Labor plus the Greens or Liberals plus the Greens to back your proposals.

It should be an interesting four years.