But the Federal Opposition says the 9.3 per cent swing against the Stanhope Government should serve as a warning to Labor governments everywhere.

Already smarting from the unexpected loss of government in Western Australia last month and the near loss in the Northern Territory in August, federal Labor shied away yesterday from associating itself with the ACT result.

Ms Macklin, who is the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Minister, said the message from the ACT poll and four NSW by-elections at the weekend was that both Labor governments needed ''to lift their game''.

Speaking on Channel Nine, she said, ''They need to listen to what the electorates are saying, and I think what they are saying to those governments is that people expect governments to take very decisive action in these very difficult economic times.

The ACT Liberals also suffered a 3.7 per cent swing against them, but senior Federal Opposition MPs deflected the result on to Labor governments in NSW, the ACT and federally.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull praised the performance of his ACT counterpart, Zed Seselja, in his first election as leader.

''He has done very well, the Liberals were ... at a very low ebb not so long ago and they've come back up and the voters have delivered a stunning rebuff to Jon Stanhope,'' he said on ABC TV.

The Greens' national leader, Senator Bob Brown, said the ACT result carried a strong message that Australians wanted the Rudd Government to take a strong lead on climate change. ''That affects our economy, our employment situation and the community into the future and there's worrying signs that Australia is not going to do that, that it's still run by the coal industry and the logging industry.

''That's going to be the real test in where we go in the run-up to the next federal election.''

Shadow treasurer Julie Bishop said the anti-Labor votes were a warning.

''It is an indication that people are concerned about the way Labor governments handle the budget, the way they handle infrastructure,'' she told Network Ten's Meet the Press. ''It sends messages to federal Labor, but it is a particularly NSW outcome.''

The Rees Labor Government in NSW lost the North Shore seat of Ryde on Saturday, with a 23 per cent swing. In the western Sydney seat of Cabramatta, the anti-Labor swing was more than 22 per cent, and in Lakemba with Cabramatta formerly one the safest Labor seats in Australia it was 13per cent.