Election 2016: nothing much changes for Canberra after a too-long campaign

Federal public servants are rousing out of caretaker mode – or perhaps logging off for the school holidays – while the rest of us are asking: "What's changed?"

The answer appears to be – not so much. As expected, the territory's three Labor and one Liberal representatives looked safe, at the close of counting on Saturday.

The other unchanged scenarios are the deep gloom over national institutions due to the efficiency dividend, and Malcolm Turnbull's failed attempt to break the stranglehold by the minor parties and Independents over the Senate.

Liberal senator Zed Seselja was never in trouble – boosted by his activism on keeping Border Protection in Belconnen and helped, as always, by the maths of the ACT's representation.

This is my last time reporting on a last federal election and my prediction from years ago still holds – the Greens can't win a Senate spot in the ACT while there are only two places on offer, despite Canberra being pro-Green. And pro-same-sex marriage.

The last Fairfax-Ipsos poll for the campaign showed voters overwhelmingly want this reform to succeed, and the right to vote on it first.

Turnbull is proposing to hold a plebiscite on that issue alone at the end of the year, which would cost nearly $160 million, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. (The High Court has already ruled parliament has the power to legislate on this.)

The people's vote will almost certainly pose a problem for Seselja. He is suggesting he will abstain from a parliamentary vote if the people – Australians, Canberrans – want same-sex marriage. But letter writers to this newspaper are already fulminating over this stance, arguing his duty is to represent the views of his constituents, despite his personal views.

He must deliver on the election promise for a federal agency to be shifted to Gungahlin town centre – and will be expected to continue to oppose the shift by Barnaby Joyce of the 175 staff at the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority from Canberra to Joyce's New England electorate.

The ACT's Labor candidates promised an incoming ALP government would return $12 million in funding to the National Library's Trove project and not proceed with the next planned increase in the efficiency dividend.

Since both sides of politics agree with the concept of continual cuts under the efficiency dividend, the outlook for staff at our national institutions will remain gloomy.

Twitter: @rosspeakeCT