Canberran is a quirky place - it's a town of roundabouts, Summernats, public servants and hot air balloons.
So can its citizens be trusted to handle $70 million of the city services budget?
That is the proposal the ACT Greens have put forward: that a panel of citizens be given direct control over about a fifth of the money budgeted for parks, recycling, city rangers and cemeteries — among other things.
The Government committed to a pilot program, but was quick to explain that was as far as they were prepared to go, for now.
"At this as a discrete pilot project associated with an element of a municipal services, city services budget," Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
"Speculation that goes beyond that at this stage is just that — speculation."
It is not the first time the idea has been proposed in Australia — councils in Melbourne and Geraldton in Western Australia have trialled citizens budgets before.
Simpson's monorail issue will not happen in Canberra: Barr
The concept also calls to mind the fictional town of Springfield, where townspeople bought a monorail on an impulse after being swindled by a travelling salesman.
But the Chief Minister poured cold water on the idea of a Canberra monorail, saying any decisions made by a citizens panel would still have to be approved by the Government.
"There is not going to be a situation where the executive government will lose control," Mr Barr said.
The Greens believe the measure could go some way to rebuilding trust in politics.
And Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur said Canberrans could be trusted to spend public money responsibly.
"I can't even see how we're asking that question, the Canberrans are a sensible bunch of people," she said.
The citizens panel will be piloted in the 2019 budget.
