Following an open and democratic preselection ballot conducted today for the electorates of Brindabella and Molonglo, Labor’s candidates in all three ACT Assembly electorates are likely to be finalised within a matter of days. The ACT ALP Branch Secretary Elias Hallaj congratulated all the candidates and welcomed the result.

“Once again the internal democratic preselection process in the ACT Branch of the ALP has resulted in the selection of a talented, hard-working group of candidates to represent the Party and seek the support of the people of Canberra,” said Mr Hallaj.

The ACT Labor Affirmative Action Rules meant that Chief Minister Katy Gallagher was unopposed in the ballot, as were the other female candidates in both electorates. Katy Gallagher, Meegan Fitzharris and Angie Drake were preselected for Molonglo and both Joy Burch and Rebecca Cody were preselected in Brindabella.

Following the ballot between the remaining male candidates in Molonglo, the four elected were Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Attorney General Simon Corbell, IT businessman David Mathews and public servant Mark Kulasingham.

The three men elected in Brindabella were former MLA Mick Gentleman, public servant Karl Maftoum and small business representative Mike Kinniburgh.

Party President Garrett Purtill congratulated all the candidates on their efforts and thanked the Party’s membership for participating in ACT Labor’s second successful local democratic preselection in 18 months.

The Chief Minister Katy Gallagher endorsed the result of the preselection, stating “I’m proud to lead a hard-working team in our Assembly, now joined by a diverse and talented group of candidates wanting to make a public contribution to our great City.”

“We are fortunate to have a broad, experienced and talented pool of candidates to choose from. I am confident that the Party and the community will get behind our team and help ensure Canberra continues to have the good government it deserves.”

The result of today’s preselection ballot will be officially endorsed by the ACT Labor Administrative Committee next week, after the ALP National Conference, completing the preselection process in time for candidates to start campaigning early next year.

The five ACT Labor candidates (pictured, with Chief Minister Gallagher) for Ginninderra were announced last week. Incumbent MLA's Chris Bourke and Mary Porter will be joined on the campaign trail by local community advocate and mother, Yvette Berry, Jayson Hinder, a lawyer and local small business owner and Glen McCrea, an economist with over a decade of experience in Government.