CHIEF MINISTER Katy Gallagher will not take negotiations with kingmaker Green Shane Rattenbury for granted, saying all offers, including a senior ministerial position, will be on the table.
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Ms Gallagher said she was ''very happy'' with the final election result, released yesterday afternoon, which left her ACT Labor Party just 41 first-preference votes behind the Liberals.
She took little time to call Mr Rattenbury to congratulate him on his re-election yesterday.
Ms Gallagher is likely to appeal to the obvious policy similarities shared by the two parties during negotiations today. But she said Labor would not take for granted the support of Mr Rattenbury.
''What we've heard from the Greens right throughout this campaign is that they will determine who they will support, and this was prior to the election, based on policy,'' she said.
''If that's the case, then obviously we feel like we have a very strong agenda to put to Shane Rattenbury, because there are a number of areas where our policy commitments in the election were very similar to the Greens.''
Canberra Liberals leader Zed Seselja claimed the large swing to the party had given it a mandate to form government. Ms Gallagher rejected that notion yesterday.
''I'd say Mr Seselja has been claiming a number of things since Saturday,'' Ms Gallagher said. ''He claimed victory on Saturday night, he then claimed that the party with the most seats should be the winner, then the party with the most votes should be the winner.
''But ultimately … the party who governs will be the party that commands the majority on the floor of the assembly, that's what democracy says, and that's what will be the result here.
''And that party needs to work with the sole Greens member to reach agreement on how that is going to deliver stable government to the people of the ACT.''
She said vote counting had been disciplined and highly scrutinised and a recount was not needed.
