'Go to the middle': Canberra Liberals told they have 'every chance' if they change

Canberra-educated Deputy Federal Liberal Leader Sussan Ley, former ACT Chief Minister and businesswoman Kate Carnell and current ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee all spoke late on Sunday at a Canberra Liberals event to mark the midway point of the fixed four-year ACT electoral cycle.

The ALP has been in office in the ACT since 2001 while the current Chief Minister Andrew Barr has held the top job in the territory since late 2014, but Canberra Liberals have not been in the hunt while conservative forces have held sway inside the party.

While a Liberals power shift appears to be underway, Ms Carnell has told The Canberra Times it needs to be sealed with the right policies and with a moderate leader like Ms Lee, who she regards as "personifying Canberra."

"No matter what side of politics you'd come from, 20 plus years is too long for any government to be in power, and the Libs have every chance of winning the next election, but they can only do that if they have policies that appeal to middle Canberra, not to the right," she said.

"They've got to go to the middle. What Canberrans want from the [Legislative] Assembly is a government that runs the place properly, that manages the budget properly.

"We love Canberra. We all love Canberra, we just want it to be we want things like health and education to be the best in Australia. Not amongst the worst."

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Ms Ley, who has been tasked with leading the Coalition's fight to win back federal seats previously held by moderate Liberals but lost to the "teal" independents on May 21, is now applying that to the next ACT election.

She said there is a Federal three year plan to win office and she is focusing on performance issues rather than a character fight.

"You all of course know what it looks like to have a Labor Government leave people behind and hold people back here in the ACT," she told the audience.

"You have some of the worst emergency waiting times in the country, you have schools that aren't able to open let alone teach our kids the basics, you have roads falling apart and the dream of homeownership slipping away from the next generation of Canberrans families."

Ms Carnell regards Ms Lee as "exactly the sort of person we need to be the next Chief Minister."

"She looks like us. And that's exactly what we want. She's not somebody who all they've ever done is be a political staffer," she said.

She told The Canberra Times the Liberals need to be visionary on running the territory from education and health to pothole management and picking up rubbish.

"The policies have got to be very much middle of the road, not conservative," she said. "Canberra is not a conservative electorate. Just isn't."

"It is really to manage the city properly, manage the budget properly, make sure that Canberra isn't one of the most expensive cities in Australia to live in. It should not be."

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