Independent Thomas Emerson has called on the ACT to cut the multimillion-dollar cost of its own incompetence and make fixes so fewer Canberrans need to sue the territory government.
Mr Emerson has fired back after the government criticised two parliamentary inquiries into government budgets and spending as calling for more spending rather than outlining where public money could be saved.
"Nobody's talking about the budgetary impact of Canberrans suing their own government. These figures show the whole-of-government cost of incompetence is massive," Mr Emerson said in a statement.
The Kurrajong independent pointed to millions paid out by the ACT government in legal action brought against it as an area where taxpayer money could be saved and said it was a "cop out" for the government to criticise the rest of the Assembly pushing for spending on critical community services.
"I'm not saying that Canberrans shouldn't sue their government, that they shouldn't seek fair compensation when they've been wronged and the government's failed in their legal duties to its citizens. Of course, this should be occurring," Mr Emerson told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"There's a real question mark here around why these figures are increasing, why they're at such high levels and what's the government doing to address it? Is it anything? Are they reviewing these legal costs, taking steps to reduce them?
"And if not, then let's not have the entire Labor side of politics criticising the rest of the Assembly for not having cost cutting solutions."
The ACT paid $51.9 million in medical negligence settlements in 2025-26, along with $8.9 million in legal costs, information provided to the Assembly's budget estimates committee revealed.
The value of the damages and settlements had risen more than 72 per cent from the previous financial year, the answer to one of Mr Emerson's questions on notice showed.
Mr Emerson also took issue with the government spending $2.8 million on personal injury claims related to broken footpaths in the ACT when only $7.2 million was spent on actual footpath repairs. The figures mean the ACT spent the equivalent of nearly 40 per cent of the repair budget on injury claims.
"Twenty-eight per cent of the ACT government's total expenditure on footpaths last year didn't go to fixing them, but to the legal costs and damages arising from not having fixed them," Mr Emerson said.
"How many footpaths could have been repaired with the millions of dollars spent on payouts and legal costs?"
Mr Emerson said $3.2 million spent settling eight of 85 historical institutional abuse claims in the past three years meant the ACT might face a bill of $30 million for the outstanding cases.
"While not every lawsuit is avoidable, the ACT government should be closely investigating the impact of its growing legal bill on the Territory's finances. This is a clear avenue for the government to improve its fiscal sustainability," he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said she knew no one would suggest the government avoid the cost of national redress scheme for historical institutional abuse.
"The ACT government signed up to the national redress scheme and as a result, there are a range of historical child sexual abuse matters, going back decades, that we are working through," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"It has been a long and difficult journey towards justice for many survivors - and no amount of money can make up for the pain and trauma they've experienced. But redress is an important acknowledgement of the hurt and harm suffered by survivors."
After the Legislative Assembly's budget estimates inquiry report was released last week, a government spokesman said: "Yet again, an Assembly inquiry has provided a report that asks the ACT government to spend more across over 20 recommendations without a single recommendation providing a clear way to fund or support these initiatives."
The final report of a separate fiscal sustainability inquiry, released last week, also drew criticism from Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Treasurer Chris Steel.
Mr Barr last week said the Assembly needed to move beyond a political culture demanding new spending without finding ways to fund it.
"The era of simultaneously demanding more infrastructure, more services, lower taxes and lower debt must come to an end," Mr Barr said.
