Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said Greens members can't expect to be a "minister for good news" and the party had to accept the business of government means priorities have to be shifted at times.
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury has said the negative consequences of government had landed with the party and they had been held back by Labor in pursuing their agenda.
The Greens are considering whether to rejoin Labor in a coalition governing agreement or sit on the crossbench.
Mr Rattenbury has been critical of how some issues had been handled, saying the party had been publicly linked to some of the negative aspects of government.
But Mr Barr said ministers needed to be prepared to deal with issues as they emerged and you could not just expect to spend your time on the issues you took to an election.
"In the ACT government you just don't get to be the minister for good news in the areas you are interested in. You also have to have a role as a minister in cabinet and you have to deal with all of the issues that emerge," he said.
"In politics sometimes things happen that aren't within your control and that means you don't get to spend all of your time on just the issues you care about."
The Greens held one-third of portfolios in the last Assembly term with three ministers from the party. Two of those, Rebecca Vassarotti and Emma Davidson, failed to be re-elected.
Mr Barr said the three were all working in areas they were interested in.
Mr Rattenbury, member for Ginninderra Jo Clay and member for Yerrabi Andrew Braddock have been re-elected. Member for Brindabella Laura Nuttall is still in with a chance of being re-elected as preference flows in the electorate are still being determined.
The Greens suffered a swing of 1 per cent against them at last Saturday's election. The party is spending this week talking to its membership ahead of any negotiations with Labor about the make-up of the government.
Mr Rattenbury said the Greens needed to consider how they would highlight to the community the party's achievements in government.
"Whilst recognising that, at the moment, many of those achievements are somewhat invisible to the community, the negative consequences of being in government have clearly landed with us to some extent," he said on Sunday.
"And that is a point of frustration for us, of course, but we need to think about how we tell the story differently in the future, if we go down that path."
Mr Rattenbury has also criticised the make-up of the territory government portfolios, saying they should be simplified to make the government more efficient.
Mr Barr said he was happy to work with the Greens on whatever role they decided to play in the next Assembly.
"We're happy to work with the crossbench in a variety of different ways. I respect the Greens' process," he said.
"They are perfectly entitled to take a collective view that they'll sit on the crossbench, just as they are perfectly entitled to seek to approach the Labor party to form some form of coalition or executive role."
Mr Barr said there was a level of efficiency in having Greens in cabinet as it meant negotiations could happen in those meetings. But he also said at times during the last term they were still having those discussions outside the cabinet room.
Other members of the crossbench will be Independents for Canberra's Thomas Emerson and Fiona Carrick. Both have already ruled out being part of a governing arrangement.
