Canberra Liberals leader Leanne Castley has immediately suspended Elizabeth Lee and Peter Cain from the party room, and is seeking to remove them permanently.<\/p>\n
The two backbenchers crossed the floor in the ACT Legislative Assembly over moves to reduce the sitting calendar from 13 weeks to 12 next year.<\/p>\n
Ms Lee and Mr Cain voted with the Greens and the two independents in a failed attempt to keep the number of sitting weeks in 2026 the same.<\/p>\n
“I accept the views of the majority of my party room colleagues, respectfully I disagree,” Ms Lee said before the vote.<\/p>\n
“I made that very clear to my colleagues as soon as this issue was raised \u2026 it is a very difficult decision to not vote in the same way as my colleagues.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leanne Castley says she will seek to permanently remove the two backbenchers from the party. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n
The move ended up being voted down, with Labor and the remaining Canberra Liberals not supporting it.<\/p>\n
But in a statement, Ms Castley said the pair had been suspended from the Canberra Liberals party room immediately for their actions.<\/p>\n
She added she would “be seeking to remove them permanently”.<\/p>\n
“As this is an internal party room matter, I will be making no further comment,” she said.<\/p>\n
In announcing he was crossing the floor, Mr Cain said it should be “obvious” every non-government MLA should be working hard to hold Labor to account.<\/p>\n
“Obviously I do see that as putting me apart from my party room colleagues, in company with Ms Lee in doing that,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I do respect the arguments they’ve presented but, with respect, I think an extra week is not an onerous addition.”<\/p>\n
Earlier this year the ABC asked Ms Castley what her attitude would be if one of her team crossed the floor.<\/p>\n
“Well, as backbenchers, they have that opportunity, of course,” she said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n “If anyone has a dissenting view, then they are welcome to raise that and chat about that and understand their wishes going forward.”<\/p>\n