Elizabeth Lee is looking to put things on the table.
The Opposition Leader, who is gearing up for a 2024 election campaign, says a government she led would consider anything to address the cost-of-living crisis for Canberra families.
"I think that everything has to be on the table. We're talking about Canberrans doing it incredibly tough who are having to make choices they've never made before," Ms Lee says, foreshadowing the party's next policy announcement.
Ms Lee says the government had "always been very flippant" about the number of Canberrans who were living in poverty, a further sign they needed to be voted out in October.
"We're talking about two weeks before school goes back and this government has absolutely missed a great opportunity to support Canberra families because we know that with kids going back to school in the next couple of weeks, many, many parents are doing it incredibly tough," she tells The Canberra Times in an interview to mark the start of the election year.
Ms Lee says government support programs need to be fit for purpose and that the people who stand to benefit must know about the programs and how to access them.
"I'll tell you right now, there are people for whom English is a second language or those who for other reasons aren't able to access these programs," she says.
Seat-by-seat
Ms Lee faces a tough challenge at the October election, needing to harness the community's sense the government's time is up to stand against the tide of history.
The Liberals have been in the political wilderness for more than two decades. No sitting Liberal member has ever served in a territory government.
Unsurprisingly, Ms Lee says she is aiming for a majority government and issues a veiled warning to Canberrans considering voting for independents in October.
"Let's be clear: most people and certainly a lot of people who are talking to us are absolutely fed up with this Labor-Greens government," she says.
"And so if Canberrans want to see a change of government, they have to vote Liberal. That is the only way that they can guarantee that there will be a change of government."
Only Labor's Jon Stanhope has governed with a majority in the Assembly. It's no wonder then that Ms Lee says she is "willing to work with anybody in the best interest of Canberra". Independents are the most viable path to power for the Liberals.
Ms Lee says she is also confident ACT voters can tell the difference between the Canberra Liberals and the federal Liberal Party.
"I think if you have a look at the track record of the Canberra Liberals, especially during this term whilst I've been leader, I think what we have done is demonstrate that we go out and talk to our electorate," she says.
"We talk to Canberra about the issues that are affecting them and we've raised those issues and advocated for them, including in relation to cost of living on the housing crisis, the issues that are plaguing our health and education systems.
An internal party review of the Canberra Liberals' 2020 election campaign recommended the party target "soft Greens voters", who are "attracted on environmental issues but deterred by the radical side of the Greens' agenda".
Asked whether the Liberals would target winning back seats in the 25-member Assembly from the Greens or from Labor, Ms Lee believes disgruntled voters who would support the opposition can "come from everywhere".
"I think there are so many Canberrans who are genuinely sick of this Labor-Greens government in the fact that they seem to have abandoned many of the community," she says.
In the suburbs
Ms Lee in November announced the Canberra Liberals would, if elected, spend $100 million on Canberra's suburbs, with each suburb to receive an allocation based on the number of households.
The Opposition Leader says the party had received hundreds of responses to the announcement, which she claims indicates the policy had been well received.
"Out of the numerous responses that we've received, it probably wouldn't surprise you that a lot of them came from some of the older suburbs, in Tuggeranong and Belconnen," Ms Lee says.
"And it's funny, because Canberrans just want some good local infrastructure for their neighbourhood. So most of the things that we have had in terms of submissions have been about playgrounds, community gardens and upgrades to local shops, and the like.
"These are the things that should be the bread and butter of any government, but because Labor and the Greens have neglected our suburbs for so long, these are the issues that Canberrans have said overwhelmingly that they want to see prioritised."
The then city services minister, Chris Steel, criticised the policy when it was announced, saying it was the first of a range of "Trojan horse announcements that seek to disguise the cuts that they would make to major infrastructure like the northside hospital and light rail".
The move was a "Dutton-style headline grab" and "$500,000 won't even deliver a new toilet for a suburb", Mr Steel said.
Ms Lee is also steadfast in her party's commitment to opening up more land for housing, offering "genuine choice" to Canberra residents without losing the character of established suburbs. She acknowledges it's "complex" to speed up the process but said it would be different under a Liberal government, which would not be committed to "strangling land supply".
"I think what Canberrans want to see, especially those who live on those large blocks, is consistency," she says of the planning system.
"They don't want to see the government who has the right of having spot variations whilst they and their neighbours are restricted in what they can do."
Scrapping light rail
Ms Lee also predicts the near decade it will take to extend light rail from the city to Commonwealth Park will build support for scrapping a further extension of the project.
The Canberra Liberals in December 2022 announced they would not continue building light rail to Woden if they won the 2024 election.
Last month, the government revealed it would cost $577 million to extend the line 1.7 kilometres to Commonwealth Park, and services would not carry passengers until at least 2028, more than 8.5 years after the first stage opened between Gungahlin and the city.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said he believes Canberrans will understand the need for the project to take time to be done right, and touted the additional benefits of the project.
Ms Lee said the cost was a huge factor in the Liberal's opposition to the project, but the time factor was "huge".
"Most people, if they're waiting down in Woden and Tuggeranong for the tram to come to them, the reality is that they're never going to see it. That's just the reality," she says.
"But the other factor, of course, is that the vast majority of Canberrans, they will never use it."
The Canberra Liberals are expected to release a detailed transport policy in the first half of the year.
"I've always said on the record and I say again, that our infrastructure program will firmly focus on the best benefits for the Canberra community, economic, social, cultural," Ms Lee says.
The opposition was still doing its "due diligence" on a policy for a stadium and Ms Lee says it would be "remiss" of her to talk about the issue until that work is finished.
Ms Lee is also eager to put the internal party divisions, both among rank-and-file members and her party room, in the past.
Jeremy Hanson, who led the Canberra Liberals to the 2016 election, was dumped as deputy leader in a party room meeting in early December after backing a conservative candidate for party president at an annual general meeting in November.
Members voted in favour of an empty chair to replace long-serving conservative president John Cziesla.
Party insiders also said Mr Hanson's position had become untenable after he took public positions at odds with Ms Lee, including backing federal intervention over the ACT's Calvary hospital acquisition and encouraging a "no" vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum.
Ms Lee has always declined to speak publicly on internal party issues but nonetheless rejected any suggestion that moving Mr Hanson to the backbench will make her leadership more vulnerable.
"Those issues were obviously dealt with at the end of last year and the party room has had its say, and we've got a fresh, new-look team and I'm very proud of the team that I lead - the whole team," she said.
Ms Lee says she wanted Canberrans to know what Canberra Liberals government cabinet would largely look like, and that had been reflected in the reshuffle.
"My job is to ensure that we're putting forward the best genuine government, that we're demonstrating to the Canberra community that we are there for them. And that's what I'll continue to do until October 21," Ms Lee said.
"It's a long road to go."
