As vote counting continues to determine the exact make-up of the next ACT legislative assembly, the Canberra Liberals have once again found themselves in familiar territory. With former leader Jerey Hanson announcing his intention to contest the party leadership when the position is spilled next month.
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00:00Less than 48 hours after Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee conceded defeat in the election,
00:08a familiar face was already making his case for a return to the top.
00:14I'll be putting my hand up for the leadership of the Canberra Liberals looking forward to 2028.
00:19I believe that I'm in the best position to lead the party to victory.
00:23Today, Mr Hanson, who opposed the ACT's drug decriminalisation laws,
00:27voluntary assisted dying bill and opposed the voice to parliament,
00:31sought to downplay internal party politics
00:34and his characterisation as a member of the party's right wing.
00:38At the end of the day I'm a Liberal and I don't shy away from that.
00:41Mr Hanson led the party between 2013 and 2016,
00:45winning 11 seats but also delivering an election loss and a 2.2% swing against them.
00:51He acted as opposition leader while Ms Lee was on maternity leave
00:54but was dumped as deputy leader in December last year after tensions grew between the pair.
00:59The leadership of the Liberal Party is traditionally spilled after an election loss
01:04and although the exact make-up of the party room is dependent on a couple of seats which have yet to be called,
01:10battle lines are already being drawn for what appears to be yet another factional fight
01:15between the party's moderate and right wing,
01:17the latter a direction which current and former Liberal figures have warned the party against taking.
01:23I want them to tell me where those extra primary votes are going to come from
01:27because on the political landscape when you look over to the right from us
01:31there's only family first in the Belco party and their vote is minuscule.
01:34They can win in the future but they've got to keep away from right wing policies, conservative approaches.
01:41The Chief Minister, now set for another four years in government, was today firmly focused on his own party.
01:47The election produced some swings against some of the incumbent parties including Labor
01:52so there are always lessons to learn.
01:54What the next assembly will look like is becoming clearer as vote counting continues.
01:59Today the ABC called a ninth seat in the electorate of Ginninderra in favour of Liberal candidate Shaka Barry
02:05while Sitting Green's MLA Andrew Braddock has retained his Yerrabee seat
02:09and veteran Labor MLA Mick Gentleman remains in the race for the final seat in Brindabella.
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