The final pitch: PM in town, Hanson on hustings, Hurn consults Liberal heavyweight
SA’s political hopefuls are drawing in heavyhitters for the final day before voting closes on the state election. Read the latest news ahead of tomorrow’s ballot.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres made a site visit to Whyalla Steelworks on Friday morning reiterating the joint state and federal election package and five companies now bidding to takeover, with the PM now on the way to meet Premier Peter Malinauskas.
Albanese made the pit stop at the embattled steelworks as the state awaits news on its new owner after Premier Peter Malinauskas announced earlier in February that there were five buyers in the running. Albanese did not provide new information about the sale process today, but confirmed there were five consortia putting forward “very serious bids”.
When asked if a One Nation polling result would raise alarm bells for Canberra, Albanese said he wanted to see Labor candidate Eddie Hughes returned as the member for Giles, the seat that covers Whyalla. He said overall, the state should back a re-elected Malinauskas government, and not a party “led by someone from Queensland who wants to tap into grievance but doesn’t provide any solutions”.
The Prime Minister’s comments followed Malinauskas and Opposition leader Ashton Hurn earlier today criticising Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party for not providing costed, detailed policies.
One Nation SA Leader Cory Bernardi has said in a statement that the claim was “misinformation” and “lazy”.
He said the party had policies focused on energy, housing, local government reform and repealing the state’s Voice to Parliament available on their website.
“Many of our policies are resonating because we’ve listened to what South Australians are telling us,” Bernardi said.
Hanson is again in Adelaide today campaigning, after visiting McLaren Vale and Port Lincoln with Bernardi this week, hoping to translate strong polling in the regions into the ballot box.
A breakdown of the primary vote by region completed by independent pollster DemosAU showed One Nation leading the Liberals in regional and rural SA – with One Nation pulling 39 per cent of the vote compared to the Liberals’ 15 per cent.
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Meanwhile, Hurn jumped on a FaceTime call with former Prime Minister John Howard to seek his counsel on the eve of the election.
Howard congratulated Hurn on what she had achieved in a short time since becoming leader in December, saying her “energy in this campaign has been amazing”.
He told her in the final day to “keep punching” until 6pm Saturday and to continue to single out the Malinauskas government’s failure to fix ramping, which Howard said was a feature of the election he was watching closely.
The SA Nationals also saw federal leader Matt Canavan join his SA election hopefuls in Adelaide today to announce a policy to drill the Great Australian Bight.
As of Thursday night, about 27 per cent of South Australians have voted, with more than 361,800 votes cast.
The most early voters were in the Fleurieu Peninsula seat of Finniss, which early polling indicates the Liberal could lose, and Mount Gambier, which has been without a member of parliament since September after convicted former MP Troy Bell resigned.
Bell resigned after a court dismissed his appeal against convictions for stealing $430,000 from not-for-profits meant to assist vulnerable school children.
Mixed reactions for One Nation wave
National attention on the state election is fixated on One Nation, as the conservative party overtakes the SA Liberals in research polling ahead of election day.
SA voter and racial justice advocate Rowena Seutatia Macdonald said she was “filled with dread at the thought that South Australia is now the ‘testing ground’ for One Nation’s national success”.
Macdonald, who works for racial justice organisation Democracy in Colour, is a second-generation immigrant of Samoan descent and said the ideals in One Nation’s policy around immigration was “impossible to ignore”.
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“One Nation continues to demonstrate who is and isn’t welcome in their version of Australia by marginalising First Nations people, migrants, Muslims and members of the LGBTQIA+ community,” she said.
“But I maintain hope that my community will not be swayed by One Nation’s fearmongering and scapegoating.”
Immigration has been a key theme in the past month of campaigning, given One Nation’s housing policy focused on reducing demand by lowering immigration. This drew the ire of Malinauskas who said his message to One Nation voters was “Who’s gonna wipe your bum when you’re 90”.
One Nation SA leader Cory Bernardi said his party is one of “strong principles and Australian values” and says that is another reason why the party was seeing success in the polls.
“Whether we win one seat, two seats or a dozen at this election, our main goal is to be the strongest voice for the South Australian people in parliament,” Bernardi said.
SA Nationals want to ‘drill baby drill’
Federal Nationals leader Matt Canavan joined his SA election hopefuls in Adelaide today to announce a plan to drill the Great Australian Bight.
“It’s time that Australia produced its own fuel. Drilling in the Officer, Arckaringa, Eucla and Bight Basins will solve our supply issue, then we need a new refinery right here in SA,” Canavan said about the plan.
It was in direct contrast to a Greens plan to state and world heritage list the Bight.
SA Nationals candidate for Legislative Council Rikki Lambert said the plan to drill was necessary because of the fuel “emergency”.
“You’ve got farmers who are deciding whether they will actually plant a crop or not because they can’t be sure they’ll have the fuel supplies when it comes to harvesting,” he said.
Lambert said, though the party did not currently have any members in state parliament, its federal relationships would put them in good standing to pick up a place in this election. He saw the seat of MacKillop in the south east as the party’s best chance in the lower house with candidate Jonation Pietzsch who had gained “name recognition” from running in past elections and was part of the Coorong District Council.
“There’s just a lot of noise at the moment and people who are wanting to cast a protest vote are tuning into some of that noise,” Lambert said.
“And when you consider two elections ago, the NXT, the Nick Xenophon team, ran and had similar levels of popularity. The outcome of that election was they had zero seats in the House of Assembly after that election.
“I think people are thinking very seriously about their vote. I’ve been out on polling booths in the last week or so since early voting opened, and people are really genuinely undecided when they rock up to a booth. They’re taking a lot of the material.”
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