‘Basking in atmosphere money can’t buy’: Smithson’s call on Premier’s cricket commentating
Mike Smithson delves into the ashes of political commentary and more troublesome Liberal grinches as Santa’s sleigh gets set for its annual pilgrimage down under.
Christmas should be a time of partial truce in SA politics, but pigs might also fly as high as Santa’s sleigh.
The Premier’s emerged from the weekend with a public relations win, almost as significant as the Aussie’s Ashes victory.
Adelaide and Peter Malinauskas basked in an atmosphere money can’t buy.
The oval was glowing in the summer heat; there was some fabulous cricket and record crowd numbers were thirsty for success and an ice-cold beer or two.
The city was heaving with revellers on all nights of the test match with bars reporting a much-needed revenue bonanza and hotel occupancy peaking at 96.1 per cent.
The Premier came under some scrutiny for his eagerness to grab the microphone for a stint of television cricket commentary and making any media appearances requested.
Ok, let’s face it, Midas-Mali loves the limelight especially if he’s reminding national audiences of the major events he’s brought to SA.
He’s treated like a rockstar by the major media organisations and knows how to engage with the full gamut of viewers and listeners.
When the camera’s red cue light switches on so does he with a massive live audience at his disposal.
It was the same during AFL Gather Round and LIV golf.
And in doing so, from breakfast television shows to late night news services, he’s become the popular face of politics.
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He’s pitching to SA voters ahead on the state election next March, but his media radar stretches far wider.
My own radar continues to suggest to me the Malinauskas march will eventually head to Canberra, despite the Premier rolling his eyes and denying it every time I throw that speculation into a casual conversation.
The weekend focus on SA doesn’t help the Liberals or Ashton Hurn one bit.
Test cricket signalled the official seasonal start of voters switching off politics, that’s if they’d ever been switched on.
Hurn didn’t waste too much time or effort on media conferences, once she’d delivered her revised tax policy which seems just as confusing as the now-defunct Tarzia stamp duty abolition pledge.
Both Hurn and her new shadow treasurer Ben Hood say they have a wide ranging, root and branch tax reform commission planned for a complete overhaul, if elected.
Quite rightly the Treasurer hit back at their logic.
How could they support Tarzia’s far-fetched abolition promise last month and then virtually ditch it for a potentially complex and confusing tax roadmap for the state’s future?
With most South Australians now in extended holiday mode, and the election less than three months away, it will be a titanic task for the Liberals to explain their tax plans to the uninitiated, let alone win enough hearts and minds to sway voter impact.
The Liberals also need to find and deal with a person who seems intent on doing them harm by leaking information.
I first raised the issue in InDaily after my personal dealings with the still unknown, so-called SA Parli Whisperer.
That mystery email involved Tarzia’s land tax reform and a planned media conference which was then scrapped once the cat was out of the bag.
It then developed into the government supposedly being told via a ‘deep throat’ phone call of a media conference that new leader Ashton Hurn was going to have the following day where she faced a steep mountain to climb to win the election.
The exact time and Waterfall Gully location were also leaked in that phone call.
The Libs brushed it off as being a Labor spoiling tactic and unprovable as the government had told journalists of the ‘fictitious’ phone call after the event had happened.
But it occurred again last week, this time the government tipping off journalists of the Liberal’s planned tax reform announcement on the afternoon before it happened.
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Put all three ‘coincidences’ together and a dangerous pattern is forming for the Libs which they need to excise before the official campaign starts.
InDaily also got the jump on another potential embarrassment for the federal and state Liberal Divisions.
Long-term executive Lachlan Haynes has quit his roles after what is believed to be a lack of support to run in a state seat.
Haynes has resigned as federal and state Rural and Regional chair.
After two decades of service, he’s also quit the party having previously worked for conservative powerbroker Tony Pasin.
That bombshell also came via a strategic leak.
Haynes says it has nothing to do with the recent election of moderate Hurn.
It must all add to the brewing unease in the party after a harmonious transition to the new leader with her new ideas.
One reader has asked me in the light of Hurn’s new reign, how many seats do I think the Liberals will win in March?
Opinion polls have them finishing with as few as two or three from their current 13.
Labor secretly has them chalked down for 10 seats.
If that was the case, it would be seen as a comparative win for the rank underdog.
But my strong feeling is that their haul will be in single figures.
I currently see little, but blind faith, steering the Liberals, albeit Hurn is performing her new role as well as anyone could.
For the good of SA, I want a close contest which puts both sides on notice that complacency won’t be tolerated.
But that seems a bridge too far.
Merry Christmas everyone, and I‘ll be back next week as usual.
Mike Smithson is presenter and political analyst for 7News.
