Opposition leader Alistair Coe has signaled that he won't purge the ACT public service of senior Labor-appointed executives if the Liberals win Saturday's election.
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Mr Coe also on Thursday backed away from a possible overhaul of the ACT government-owned monopoly water provider Icon Water, a proposal he floated in June last year.
It marked the latest in a series of policies or commitments flagged in the past four years which the Liberals have gone cold on during the campaign, including pledges to overturn the territory's greyhound racing ban and abolish stamp duty.
Two days out from polling day, the Liberal leader and his deputy Nicole Lawder performed another campaign stunt, knocking down boxes brandishing the words "CO$T OF LIVING" to hammer home their promise to make Canberra more affordable.
When he fronted reporters, Mr Coe was questioned on the Liberals' plan for the ACT public service if they win government for the first time in 19 years on Saturday.
The length of Labor's tenure has meant the senior ranks of the ACT bureaucracy are filled with people appointed by Barr government ministers or their predecessors.
Any change of government typically triggers movements in the public service. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott sacked a number of senior federal department heads soon after the Coalition won the 2013 federal election, including treasury secretary Martin Parkinson.
But Mr Coe has signaled that there won't be similar upheaval of the ACT's director-generals if the Canberra Liberals defeat Labor this weekend.
"The Canberra Liberals will work constructively with our wonderful public service," Mr Coe said when asked directly if the director-generals of the ACT's seven directorates would keep their jobs in a Liberal government.
"We will respect them, honour them, and we look forward to working with them to put in place our ambitious agenda," he said.
The Opposition leader last year flagged an intention to shake up the ACT's public service if the Liberals won government, headline by a possible overhaul of Icon Water.
Mr Coe said at the time the ACT might be better served if water and sewerage services were moved from Icon Water to an existing government directorate, or entirely new authority.
He suggested the government-owned entity was run with the "largesse" of a private sector organisation, pointing to the salaries of its executives are proof. The salary package of Icon Water's managing director was worth $764,190 in 2018-19, almost double the amount paid to the head of the ACT's public service.
But Mr Coe appears to have gone cold on the proposal, saying on Thursday that what was raised in last year was just an idea.
"The Canberra Liberals, throughout the term, have put up ideas about how we can make the ACT a more affordable place and how we can deliver better services for Canberra families," he said.