The Canberra Liberals have denied they want to see an end to self-government in the ACT after shadow treasurer Peter Cain shared a link to an article calling on the Prime Minister to sack the territory's government.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was "a new low" for Mr Cain to back the call for a democratically elected government to be sacked.
"The Canberra Liberals are now adding democracy to the list of things they are opposed to," Mr Barr wrote on Twitter.
Mr Cain shared a link to the comment piece, published in The Australian on Thursday, on Twitter.
The article, written by the newspaper's chief political correspondent, exhorted Anthony Albanese to "call in the administrators and sack the glorified local council that is the ACT government".
"The Labor-Greens coalition, which has run Canberra for almost 22 years, is out of control and behaving like a regime that can do what it wants with impunity," the article said.
Mr Cain shared it on his Twitter account, which is followed by 170 people, after 5pm on Thursday.
Acting Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said in a statement on Friday the suggestion the Canberra Liberals did not support self-government was "ridiculous and a nonsense".
"The Canberra Liberals agree with many of the sentiments in the article that the ACT Labor-Greens government are out of control and need to be sacked," Mr Hanson said.
"However, the Canberra Liberals strongly believe the opportunity to sack this government is at the ballot box next October."
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Mr Hanson told a press conference on Friday Mr Barr was "clutching at straws" to suggest the Canberra Liberals wanted to see an end to territory democracy.
"To be very clear, the Canberra Liberals don't support an end to self-government ... You know, this is a terrible government, it should be sacked and it's very obvious it should be sacked in October next year," he said.
Mr Hanson used his budget reply speech on Thursday afternoon to liken the ACT government to the one led by former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, which faced serious allegations of organised crime and police corruption.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
