When ACT voters go to the ballot box to cast their vote on October 19, they may be thinking of a few things.
Whether or not they want an extension of light rail, their experiences of the health system or whether they want a stadium in Bruce or Civic.
But a few others might have their mind elsewhere.
They could be thinking of the $8.5 million contracts by the Canberra Institute of Technology, the $78 million wasted on a human resources management system, the Lehrmann board of inquiry or the integrity investigation into the procurement for an expansion of Campbell Primary School.
Financial and integrity issues can be the death knell for people's political careers but in other places this often happens outside the voting cycle. It's usually political pressure which causes people to stand aside, for example, former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.
No ACT minister has suffered a similar fate over this parliamentary term but it is hard to say whether or not Canberrans will make their feelings known come election day.
A few close to the action say this could affect how people vote but others say these scandals can be easy to forget with everyday issues likely to be front of mind when people head to polling booth.
'That's where it bites'
In regards to cost blowouts, one which has left a significant dent in the territory's budget is the failed nearly $78 million upgrade to the government's human resource system.
The ACT Auditor-General said there were "multiple failings at all levels" in the project.
More recently, huge financial issues of the ACT's digital health record have been revealed. A report found the system had been delivered with "ineffective financial management and cost control". The program will cost an additional $160 million more than initially expected and there are fears bureaucrats may have wrongly paid invoices associated with the program.
There have also been issues of integrity throughout the term. The ACT Integrity Commission held its first public hearings last year as part of its investigation into the tender process behind the expansion of Campbell Primary School.
The commission heard allegations of union and ministerial interference as part of an attempt to ensure Lendlease was given the contract over Manteena, despite the former scoring better on two separate tender evaluations. Manteena was also willing to do the job for less money.
The board of inquiry into the botched trial of Bruce Lehrmann also uncovered failings within the territory's justice system (although the fallout of leaking the report ended up attracting the eyes of the corruption watchdog).
But there is one issue Andrew Hughes, a political marketing expert at the Australian National University, believes could leave a greater impression on voters and that is the $8.5 million in contracts awarded by CIT to "complexity and systems thinker" Patrick Hollingworth.
The contracts resulted in the ACT Integrity Commission's first finding of corruption with the institute's former chief executive Leanne Cover being found guilty of "serious corrupt conduct" under the Integrity Commission Act.
The corruption watchdog released its first report into the matter in June this year, following a two-year investigation. During the two years the CIT board and the government said they were hamstrung by the integrity investigation and were unable to take any action. Ms Cover was paid her full annual salary of more than $370,000 over this time despite being stood down.
"That's hit a lot of people, that issue, because the fact the CEO was paid so much money at a time when cost of living was really important to a lot of people, that's where it bites," Dr Hughes said.
The corruption watchdog found Skills Minister Chris Steel was misled by Ms Cover over the contracts but he has come under fire for not being aware of the largest contract until months after it was signed. Dr Hughes said the fact the minister did not take any responsibility may not have had the desired effect.
"If you come out and say, 'I wasn't on top of this enough, I made mistakes, I should have been better', I think people would go, 'OK, no worries, we all make mistakes and it wasn't you who committed the actions it was committed by a different individual'," he said.
"But the fact he went all management of the issue and management of the messaging, I just thought, 'Woah that's more of the same, not a different leadership style'."
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee, who brought the CIT contracts to light, said it was often brought up with her on street stalls.
"It will be one of the things that comes up regularly. When I do a mobile office it'll come up at least once or twice, if not more," she said.
"People see it in different ways. There's certainly that notion of, 'There's a stench about this government'. So I get that a bit.
"Then the other one that I get, this is very common, is they'll go, 'You know the $78 million on that HR system, what were they thinking? And I say that as a Labor voter'."
But while these issues may have caused a lot of havoc for the government over the term, University of Canberra senior lecturer in political science Michael de Percy said they might be easily forgotten by the voting public.
"I think part of the importance of journalists is to actually trigger our memory to these things because otherwise we're like goldfish. We forget what happened," he said.
'The long grass over the summer'
While financial and integrity issues might be a consideration for some, the local issues, the cost of living and the government's long tenure are more likely to play a key factor, experts say.
Candidates have even told The Canberra Times the 23-year reign of Labor is often brought up when chatting with people at street stalls.
Dr de Percy said the financial and integrity issues were symptomatic of a government being in power for more than two decades.
"All of these things when they are brought to light in the one package, it just shows a very tired government ... go through almost every other long-term government particularly in Australian history and eventually they just sort of grow tired and the scandals build up and people start looking for change," he said.
"I'd be reluctant to say the government is complacent, but what I'm trying to say is governments tend to become complacent when they've been in power for so long and they get into a groove where they're just doing what they do and obviously the public service goes along with that as well."
But it's the local issues that tend to dominate the minds of voters, such as the cracked footpaths, the potholes, rubbish collection and the length of the grass.
Dr Hughes said this would definitely play on people's minds, citing the long grass over the summer months which he said pointed to the government being unprepared.
"Another issue was the long grass over summer. You're a government who believes in climate change but you're saying you haven't planned for it. It just seems as though, why didn't you have a contingency fund? Most states and territories have money for situations like that," he said.
And local issues have formed the basis for many of the party's campaigns. The Liberals have promised a $100 million suburb spending package focused on upgrades and Labor has recently announced a series of plans for each district largely based on local upgrades.
Integrity hasn't played much of a role at this stage in the campaign but if candidates sense this could be a potential vote-winner, it might start to come up in the later stages of the campaign.
