Two-term ACT Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur will not be recontesting her Murrumbidgee seat at the 2020 election, opening the door for another minor party member to stand for the coming preselections.
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Ms Le Couteur has long been a fixture in the ACT branch of the party, having served in the seventh and ninth Assembly's, across numerous committees and including a stint as assistant speaker.
But Ms Le Couteur said she had wanted to go while the going was good, and announcing her plans not to stand for the next term now gave the party and any potential candidates time to decide whether they might throw their hat in the ring.
"I think if you'd asked me 10 years ago whether there would be Greens in Murrumbidgee, we would've said we're just an inner north party, but if you look at the two Senate candidates who just stood, we've clearly got a great pool of talent in the electorate," she said.
Ms Le Couteur said while there was much she still wanted to achieve before she left - including getting new consent laws passed - she pointed to action on climate change as her proudest achievement in her political career.
She said the fact that two Greens in the seventh Assembly got a zero emissions by 2050 target through, and the evidence showed the ACT was well on the way now, demonstrated to the people of Canberra the minor party could achieve concerted action on climate change.
Ms Le Couteur said she had also been talking to Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay about creating a new definition of consent in the Crimes Act, as the ACT was the only jurisdiction with a free and voluntary definition as long as the victim was not drunk or restrained.
She said she expected to be able to put forward a co-sponsored bill on that issue with Mr Ramsay before the 2020 election.
Ms Le Couteur also said she wanted to keep working towards a more sustainable Canberra, and in the wake of the felling of the well-known Manuka London Plane tree, also planned to introduce measures to improve the territory's Tree Protection Act.
"I also want better public transport and I'll continue to be talking about houses that work better for our climate and hopefully after another hot summer, the climate will be right for change," she said.
She also said she would keep working to keep both major parties accountable by asking questions and wanted to widen a ban on property developers making political donations to the gambling industry.
"The pokies industry is one of our most regulated industry, and it's really important that gambling entities shouldn't have undue influence on politics.
"I'd also like to pass truth in political advertising laws but that would be a little more complex."
The other goes without saying ongoing role of asking questions keeping govt to accounts also part of my job."
Ms Le Couteur said if anyone, young or old, was interested in getting into politics they should, but start with community organisations and an issue they were passionate about they were willing to prosecute.
"Look for the places where you can make a difference and get involved, good government needs people to be more involved."