Now, post-election, it’s time for the most consequential bit of our democratic process

After the final seat in Brindabella went to the Greens’ Laura Nutall, negotiations around the formation of government began in earnest. It is vital to our democracy that this occurs transparently.

In the ACT, it is historically rare for any one party to govern on its own. Negotiations are a feature of the ACT system, not an exception.

In most election cycles, these negotiations are the most consequential part of the ACT’s democratic process. Much of what happens in the Legislative Assembly in the next four years will be determined in the next week or two. Voters have a right to know how these negotiations proceed.

Any party or MLA that is not transparent in this process is ignoring their responsibility to ensure voters are fully informed. All the requirements for transparency in the Legislative Assembly become hypocritical if there isn’t transparency when it counts the most.

Voters should understand how negotiations proceed because this can inform their votes in four years. With negotiations and compromise likely after the election, voters want to understand which election commitments the parties promoted most faithfully, and which they were most prepared to throw under the bus.

Transparency is also important because it helps ensure people experiencing disadvantage don’t miss out, as can happen in secret negotiations.

The ambiguity of the election results heightened the need for transparency. Labor won more seats than any other party, but still only 40 per cent of seats. The Liberals have only one fewer seat, and the presence of two independents complicates negotiations. With Ms Nutall’s re-election, the Greens have the capacity to form government with or guarantee supply to either Labor or the Liberals.

While a pairing with the Liberals seems unlikely on its face, its possibility is more understandable when you examine policies and context. In certain areas of government support for the community sector, such as linking funding for the sector to population growth, the Liberals are closer to the Greens than Labor is.

The Greens’ social housing policy is so much more ambitious than Labor or the Liberals, that the difference between the two largest parties pales in comparison. Indeed, while the social housing policy the Liberals took to the election is less ambitious than Labor, the Liberals might be willing to concede more on housing and other key Greens’ issues after a quarter of a century in opposition.

Voters have a right to understand how the Greens are using their kingmaker position, not least so there is an understanding if they make an unexpected decision on which party to support.

Conversely, those who voted for the Liberal party deserve to understand the approach – if any – this party has taken to the Greens in negotiations. This is important not least because of the Liberals’ internal tensions and recent comments from insiders that some are less concerned with winning power than maintaining ideology. Supporters might well be upset if the party is not actively pursuing its only remaining path to power, no matter how narrow it seems.

Similarly, one of the questions independent candidates were most frequently asked by voters, the media, and indeed the chief minister, is which party they would support. Those candidates were coy before the election, given the results were not known so decisions had not necessarily been made. Now, however, it would be useful for voters to understand to what extent and how the independents are negotiating, and what policies they are promoting most vigorously.

Finally, all voters have an interest in knowing Labor’s approach to the formation of government, given its dominant results this election and in so many others before it. Is Labor using the formation of government to creatively negotiate to improve the legislative agenda over the next four years, or is it convinced it already has all the best answers?

Obviously, negotiations to form government are going to be about power, but they are also an opportunity to learn from other parties and voters themselves. Candidates work hard to speak to voters in the months ahead of an election. The current negotiations are an important opportunity to put what they have learned into action.