THE STANHOPE Government is putting health and education reforms front and centre as it seeks a record third term in office. With the election just 12 weeks away, the Government was in campaign mode at the annual Australian Labor Party ACT Branch Conference yesterday.
Delegates and MLAs sang the praises of the Government's two terms in office and provided a taste of what will be on offer before the October 18 poll.
There was plenty of fanfare with ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope walking on to the stage amid raucous applause from the party faithful and blaring rock music.
Mr Stanhope pushed the hyped feel, making several allusions to the silver screen in reference to the upcoming poll.
''If this was Hollywood, my words today would be a voiceover to a visual image of pages from a calendar flipping ever more rapidly,'' he told the gathered delegates.
He also used the movie cliche of a ''flashback'' to remind delegates of what Canberra was like when a Liberal Government was in power.
As well as health and education, which the Chief Minister said ''are and always will be at the heart of what motivates and agitates a Labor Government'', paid maternity leave, light rail, law reforms and affordable housing measures were also canvassed at the conference.
Some of the issues expected to draw heated debate were referred to committee or held over because of time constraints. Issues including curfews at Canberra Airport, civil unions, and the party's policy on illicit drug harm minimisation were left for a less public forum.
There were voices of dissent that greeted many delegates including the Chief Minister with about 20 people from lobby group Canberrans for Power Station Relocation demonstrating at the entrance to the conference.
Wearing gas masks over their faces and carrying pickets emblazoned with ''No Toxic Tugges'' and ''Stanhope Doesn't Care for Consultation'' the group handed out pamphlets highlighting its concerns.
Group spokesman Rodahn Gibbon said they were there to make sure people were aware of the health issues surrounding the proposed $1billion data centre in Canberra's south.
Mr Stanhope also used the conference to stress his commitment to Canberra families needing assistance through affordable housing, education and health care.
He assured those gathered that all systems ''did not discriminate'' and used former prime minister Ben Chifley's ''Light on the Hill'' speech for inspiration.
''For some among us Chifley's light on the hill could be the light that shines from a public hospital, or a community health centre, or an early intervention service, or a government detox facility, or a rehab ward or from one of Labor's Child and Family Centres,'' he said.
''For others the light might shine from a classroom in a public school.''
Mr Stanhope said the party had ''unfinished business''. He told the audience, ''We can not and will not accept this is as good as it gets.''
Besides the speeches, rhetoric, resolutions and platform changes the conference was also tinged by sadness with a moment's silence observed for party faithful lost during the year including the late Justice Terry Connolly.
There was also celebration with two retiring members of the party Wayne Berry and Karen Macdonald honoured for their service with a standing ovation.