Caretaker conventions? Who cares about them, says the ACT ALP...

The ACTPLA website, with Minister Corbell's Tuggeranong announcement, right under the notice saying
there'll be no policy updates during the caretaker period!

Just what the hell are the ACT Labor Party up to?

There have been two major policy announcements from the ALP's Simon Corbell in the last three days:

• 17 September release of the finalised Tuggeranong Town Centre Master Plan 
• 19 September release of Weathering the Change Action Plan 2

We have caretaker conventions for a reason - so that the public can be assured that an incumbent government is not misusing its access to public service staff for its own political gain.

Here we have two major policy initiatives - entirely developed by ACT public servants - agreed to by the ACT Cabinet prior to the caretaker period, but held onto until well into that period in order to maximise political gain for the Labor Party.

There is some explaining to do, as ACT Greens leader Meredith Hunter has pointed out:

The ALP has some questions to answer such as why have they waited until one month out from the election to release these public service reports.
Without a clear answer they look like they are drip feeding policy prepared by the public service for the political benefit of the ALP.
If they are ALP election promises, they should be transparent and say so. If they are Government decisions, why are they being released one month out from the election and in apparent breach of the caretaker conventions?

The Caretaker Convention states at section 3 that:

...it is desirable that decisions be announced before the start of the caretaker period.

If circumstances require the Government to make a major policy decision during the caretaker period that would potentially commit an incoming government, this should be done in consultation with the relevant opposition and cross bench spokesperson.

This is on top of a Katy Gallagher Labor ad that has been run on commercial TV that was filmed in a Harrison School classroom, with children wearing Harrison School uniforms. It features the Chief Minister delivering a specific ALP pitch on education and was not in any way a reuse of footage from a legitimate ministerial visit. I've confirmed that the children were not from Harrison School (I have a fair idea who they were though), but that it was indeed filmed - some time ago - within the school grounds.

Again from the Caretaker Convention:

It is not appropriate that the use of agency premises extend to such activities as engaging public servants in political dialogue, or using public servants for logistical support for political functions.

ACT Government premises may be used as the backdrop for political advertising or policy material by government and non-government parties (e.g. photography or filming) provided that no official resources are utilised, and the operations of the site are not unreasonably impacted.

I know that at least one staff member was involved in organising this (not that the person would reasonably have had a choice), and filming inside a classroom could hardly be called using the facility as a backdrop.

We are in caretaker now. That means the ALP candidates are just that - candidates like all the rest of us. They should behave that way.