When the Liberals were last in power in the ACT only the first Harry Potter film had been released, Kylie Minogue's song Can't Get You Out of My Head was topping the charts and the iPhone did not exist.
It's been a long 23 years in the political wilderness for the Canberra Liberals but Elizabeth Lee is hopeful that will change next week.
For some, it's a do-or-die election with many moderates in the Liberals questioning if not Ms Lee then who will be able to break the drought?
The Opposition Leader understands the frustration held by many on her side of politics.
"I think a lot of Liberal voters have always been like 'when's it going to happen' and it's fair to say after 23 years there's a lot of people who are frustrated, especially from the Liberal side," Ms Lee said.
"They see we work hard, they know that we've got a good team, they know that we have a good vision and good policies and for whatever reason we haven't quite got there."
But Ms Lee does not think it's all "doom and gloom", pointing to her party's result in 2012 where they won the popular vote in the ACT. Labor ended up governing with support from the Greens' Shane Rattenbury.
"That's when Shane Rattenbury became sole kingmaker, despite the fact the Greens actually went backwards significantly in that election, losing three out of the four seats," she said.
It will be hard for the Liberals to form a government on their own but if the independents are successful in gaining seats over the Greens, Ms Lee might just be able to secure government through negotiations with them. And for independents, especially of the progressive persuasion, she might be the most palatable leader the Liberals have had in years.
'I'll go into any negotiations with an open mind'
Ms Lee was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2016. She became the leader of the Canberra Liberals in 2020 following the last election.
She is a moderate and supports voluntary assisted dying, abortion and gay marriage. This has put her at odds with people in her party with the ACT branch being known for its conservatism over recent times.
Ms Lee acknowledges it will be hard for the Liberals to form a majority government. It's only been done once before in the territory, with Jon Stanhope securing the magic number in the 2004 election.
Despite this, she said it would be difficult for the Liberals to make a deal with the Greens given they hold such disparate views. Ms Lee also said the party has embedded itself with Labor in the ACT for so long they were one of the same.
Ms Lee is prepared to negotiate with independents but said she would not be held to ransom.
"I'll go into any negotiations with an open mind and in good faith but what I won't do is be held to ransom by anyone," she said.
"Depending on the result of the election, what I would be saying to anyone that we were to have negotiations with is to respect that Canberrans have voted for change and to make sure that is taken into consideration."
However, Ms Lee is keen to convey the message the only way to change is to vote Liberal.
"I think it's important for Canberrans to know that if they want to see a change of government, and many have told us they do, then the only way they can guarantee that is to vote Liberal," she said.
'Not afraid to make the tough decisions'
Ms Lee has faced battles on two fronts this term. The first being Labor and the Greens and the other coming from inside her own party.
She was initially elected to the role with Giulia Jones as deputy. They were the first all-female leadership team in the history of the ACT Legislative Assembly. But Mrs Jones ended up quitting the role just over a year later. She resigned for personal reasons but there had been conflict with Ms Lee's office.
She was replaced by Jeremy Hanson, the former opposition leader who had also contested the Liberal leadership role in 2020.
But late last year Mr Hanson was abruptly ousted from the role following a spill of the deputy leadership role. He was replaced by Leanne Castley.
Elizabeth Kikkert was disendorsed as a Liberal candidate last month following allegations of poor behaviour and alleged non-compliance with disclosure obligations under the Electoral Act.
During a leadership debate with Chief Minister Andrew Barr this week, Ms Lee was asked about the turmoil and said it showed she was prepared to make the tough decisions.
"I think that when Canberrans see the decisions I have made, they know what they will get is a leader of the Canberra Liberals who is not afraid to make the tough decisions," she said.
Ms Lee said she believed her actions stood in contrast to Mr Barr who she said had not shown the same leadership this term.
"There's no doubt I think Canberrans have seen the lack of leadership shown by Andrew Barr when it comes to the serious issues that have come about," she said.
"You've got a number of ministers embroiled in very serious integrity commission investigations, you've got ministers who have been at the helm of wasting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
"Many people have observed that in any other jurisdiction this type of behaviour and lack of responsibility just wouldn't fly, that there'd be a number of ministers who will have either stepped down or been fired by the chief minister."
During the campaign, Liberal candidate for Ginninderra Darren Roberts was also caught using a Facebook profile under a nom de plume where he posted derogatory material about federal politicians and called for a "push back" against Indigenous reconciliation efforts.
He does remain an endorsed candidate but Ms Lee said she did not share those views.
'It is a challenge'
During her time in politics, Ms Lee has become a mother. She gave birth to her first daughter, Mia, in 2019 and her second daughter, Ava, last year. She said juggling a political career and being a mother could be tough.
"I'm not going to mince words. It is tough. It is a challenge," Ms Lee said.
"I go through the same mum guilt that a lot of working mums do. I can't remember the last time I was able to consistently drop off Mia or pick her up from school.
"It's starting to bank up. Let's just say my partner is earning some serious brownie points."
Ms Lee admits it does leave her questioning her decisions at times but at the end of the day she wants to be an inspiration to her daughters and women more generally.
"I think it's important for younger females to see that being in a very public leadership role is something they can aspire to," she said.
"There are times where you do seriously questions am I putting my political ambitions ahead of being the best and present mum I can be. Those are the kinds of questions that do come up a lot more than I would like."
Becoming a mother has also changed her perspective on some matters. She can empathise with difficulties faced by families but Ms Lee also recognises she is more privileged than most.
"The juggles that parents have, especially working parents, have, in raising a family as well as working, I think those are lived experiences that I obviously certainly bring," she said.
"But I also acknowledge that I'm in a pretty privileged position where I earn a good income and I've got a good support network, and so it makes me think about how hard things are, and then how much harder it must be for those who may not be in that privileged position where they've got good income, where they've got family support."
Ms Lee's upbringing is also a big influence. She was 7 years old when her parents moved their family to Australia in search of a new life.
She said seeing her parents struggle with not knowing English and not being able to access basic government services had made her very aware of the importance of accessibility. Since becoming a politician, Ms Lee said whenever she raised the issue she was told "we've got translated material" but it was not as simple as that.
"It's not a simple matter of just translation, you know, it's actually about taking into consideration cultural differences as well as just, I suppose, the unfamiliarity of authority and government, and there is a an intimidation factor," Ms Lee said.
"So I try to think about things in terms of when I'm developing policy, or when I'm thinking about what we can do to improve I actually think from the perspective of, would my parents be able to actually find this and access it and take advantage of it and and a lot of the times, I think to this day, still, we're a lot better than we used to be as a government, but it's still not quite there"
'It's important for me to stay positive'
At the end of the campaign, Ms Lee will either be the ACT chief minister or she will have to make a decision about whether she wants to stay in the Assembly and fight to retain the opposition leadership.
If she is elected as chief minister, Ms Lee said one of the first things she would do is meet with senior public servants, many of whom would have never experienced a leadership change.
"One of the first steps is to engage with the very senior public servants to consult with them about the move forward and how things might change and what that might look like, acknowledging that it has been a long time, and so, you know, many of them probably wouldn't have gone through a machinery of government process," she said.
"So that's really important, because the ACT public service is an incredibly important part of ACT government."
Ms Lee has not dared to think about what she would do if the result swings the other way.
"That's obviously something that I haven't given too much thought to because it's important for me to stay positive and have belief that we're going to be able to get across the line. I think it's fair to say I just won't be making any rash decisions," she said.
