New ACT Opposition Leader Leanne Castley is open to talks with the ACT Greens to secure extra funding for the Integrity Commission.
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said he would be prepared to speak with Ms Castley on resourcing but also hit out at the new Liberal leader, who cited her predecessor's discussions with the Greens as the reason for her challenge.
"We'll work with everybody across the Assembly. The Canberra Liberals have got some choices to make," Mr Rattenbury said.
"I think we've just had a bizarre fortnight in which there has been a stated reason for rolling the leader of the Liberal Party is she dared to speak to the Greens. It's almost incomprehensible that somebody would come to this place with that sort of attitude."
Ms Castley had cited talks with the Greens as a reason she could no longer support her predecessor, Elizabeth Lee, but said working together on legislation was different to forming a government together.
The Greens will sit on the crossbench this Assembly term and will not form government with Labor as they had over the past three terms.
But while they will not form government with Labor they have guaranteed supply and have supported Andrew Barr as Chief Minister.
Their crossbench position means they will be able to partner with the Canberra Liberals on various motions and private members' bills. If the parties vote together they will have a majority of 13.
When asked about any issues she would seek to partner with the Greens on, Ms Castley highlighted resourcing for the Integrity Commission.
"There's a couple of things, I think integrity is one of the first. We know that there's many issues and investigations and little funding, so things like that are something that we'll start having conversations with them, but we haven't done that yet," she said.
The Integrity Commission has previously complained about being "significantly under-resourced" and has faced staffing issues including significant staff turnover.
The commission has also taken a long time to complete investigations, including an investigation into the procurement for an expansion of Campbell Primary School. The investigation began in early-2021 and the actions of the former chief of staff for Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry are a key part of the inquiry.
An investigation into more than $8.5 million in contracts awarded to a "complexity and systems thinker" by the Canberra Institute of Technology is still ongoing. But it took two years for the commission to release its initial findings that former chief executive Leanne Cover had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct".
The Canberra Liberals promised a new funding model for the corruption watchdog and to increase funding by more than $5 million over the term.
Mr Rattenbury said he was open to talking with the Liberals about changes they could push for, including around resourcing and legislative change.
"Obviously, the Integrity Commission's resourcing is important. It's an issue we have sought to raise in recent times, and I think there is a frustration in the community that some of these investigations are taking longer than they might anticipate."
"One is a resource question and one is whether there can be changes to the Integrity Commission's legislation that enable them to speed up procedures."
Mr Barr has already flagged he would pursue changes to decrease the amount of time a person named in an integrity report had to respond to a draft report.
But the Liberals and the Greens will need to overcome their own battles in order to form a consensus on the matter.
Ms Castley said she decided to run for the Liberal leadership after the former leader, Ms Lee, had discussions with the Greens following last month's election.
But while she said she would not consider forming government with the Greens, Ms Castley said she would be prepared to speak with them about motions and bills.
"In the last term, the relationship did seem to be a little bit tense between Labor and the Greens, so I'm hopeful and very keen to have all of the conversations with the Greens when it comes to motions and bills and things like that," Ms Castley said.
Ms Castley said the Liberals shadow cabinet would be revealed after Mr Barr reveals the Labor ministry. She will only have seven members to work with as Mark Parton has been elected speaker and Ms Lee does not want a position in the party's frontbench.
