State Election 2010

[AtD]

However, it's waaaay too early to worry about the polls, neither major party has started their "election rain dance". And yes, i agree with your comment about the Advertiser's integrity - it pays to be weary.

Yet a federal election is the most expensive peace time activity carried out by the government...

[Shuz]

Labor leading in country seats
Article from: The Advertiser
GREG KELTON, STATE EDITOR
March 20, 2009 11:48pm

VOTER support for the state Liberals has collapsed and they are trailing in their country heartland, an Advertiser poll shows.

With a year to go until the state election, the poll shows Labor would easily win if results were repeated on March 20 next year.

In SA country areas, the two-party preferred vote is Labor 57 per cent and Liberals 43 per cent – a dramatic turnaround from the previous poll in September last year, when the Liberals were ahead 58-42.

The result will raise questions about Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith's future, particularly because some senior Liberals believe the party is unlikely to win an election until at least 2014.

Labor holds an overwhelming 12-point lead in the statewide two-party-preferred stakes, ahead 56 per cent to 44 per cent.

Disturbingly for the Opposition, more than half of intending Liberal voters – 56 per cent – believe Premier Mike Rann is doing a "good to fair job".

The poll of 522 voters across the state on Wednesday night is particularly alarming for the Liberals because of Labor's lead in country regions, which have traditionally returned conservative MPs.

Less than two months ago, the Liberals lost the rural seat of Frome to an independent in a shock result. They had been banking on winning two rural seats – Chaffey and Mt Gambier – which are held by Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald and independent Rory McEwen.

The latest two-party-preferred figures represent a swing away from Labor since its landslide 2006 election victory of only 0.8 per cent.

On these figures, the Liberals would not win any of the 10 seats they need to win government.

It is also a dramatic drop in the party's fortunes since the previous Advertiser poll, which put the Liberals virtually neck-and-neck with the Government. That poll, conducted on September 17, showed Labor ahead 51-49 on a two-party-preferred basis.

A drop over this period of eight percentage points in the party's primary vote again raises serious questions about the future of the party and Mr Hamilton-Smith.

Wracked by factional instability and in a poor financial position, senior Liberal sources believe the party's best chance of winning an election might not come until 2014.

While Mr Rann's approval rating has dropped three percentage points to 74 per cent (21 per cent good and 53 per cent fair), Mr Hamilton-Smith's has remained steady on 62 per cent (10 per cent good, 52 per cent fair).

Liberal rumblings aside, voters believe strongly that Mr Hamilton-Smith would be the best person to lead the Liberals to the next election.

The poll shows 40 per cent of voters supporting Mr Hamilton-Smith with only 12 per cent each for his deputy Vickie Chapman and former leader Iain Evans, while frontbenchers Steven Griffiths and David Ridgway got only 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

Among the minor parties, the Greens, whose preferences will be vital in a range of key seats, continue to poll strongly at 6 per cent while the Democrats appear headed for electoral oblivion. They only polled 1 per cent and this will virtually ensure the party's sole surviving MP in Australia – David Winderlich – will lose his seat in March.

Family First is not polling much better – only 2 per cent.

Flinders University political analyst Haydon Manning said the poll confirmed what had been very consistent figures for the Rann Government over this second term.

Professor Manning said it was holding steady in the published opinion polls but the result would be "quite demoralising" for Mr Hamilton-Smith, who had made a genuine fist of Opposition since taking over from Mr Evans.

"It is a long way to the next election and if unemployment keeps heading north it will be interesting to see to what degree the Government will be able to say it is nothing to do with Mr Rann and Mr Foley," he said.

Go Labor! Liberals can go to hell.

[stumpjumper]

Shuz re your much earlier post, the SA election is not just a 4 yearly auction of goodies aimed at the swinging voters. At least it shouldn't be.

I have several continuing problems with Labor in SA. This does not mean that I have no problems with the Liberals. I've got plenty, but they don't form the government.

Here is a selection:

I don't like the way the faction system gives a small, unelected group of (generally) union leaders the ability to decide who makes up the government and fills the ministries. I would prefer selection on merit.

I don't like the Premier's influence on the media in this state. As a former journalist, I hear credible stories about what goes on. The Premier's 103 person media unit has an enormous influence on what we see and hear in the media here. It even has its own TV crew complete with editors and produces broadcast-ready vision of interviews and footage to accompany press releases etc. It's sophistication is impressive, but it is very close to a propaganda unit. Mike Rann is now the largest, and highest paying, employer of journalists in SA. Think about the effect of that on the behaviour of about 90% of local journalists.

I don't like the nepotism evident throughout the Labor ranks. The Liberals do it to, but at the end of the last Liberal government, about $80,000 of public money was being paid to retired MPs, hacks, friends and relatives. At the last count, the corresponding figure for Labor pals and relatives was close to $1 million. MP's are not allowed to employ their wives, but Labor MP's and factional mates get around it by employing each others' wives. For example, Jay Weatherill employed Melissa, the wife of his factional boss Nick Bolkus in a senior position in his office, while another member of Bolkus' factin, Pat Conlon, employed Sue Weatherill in his office. It's not always happy - Labor Catholic Right boss Don Farrell, who some say is SA's real premier, asked his recruit Senator Linda Kirk to employ his wife Nimfa. Kirk, a highly qualified lawyer, agreed and Nimfa was on the payroll. The trouble was, she claimed her wage but didn't want to work. Kirk sacked her and was instantly kicked off the ALP senate ticket by Farrell. The excuse was that she voted for stem cell trials in a conscience vote. Despite it being a conscience vote, Farrell said that to vote for stem cell research was 'against union policy', the union being the huge SDA, the 'Shoppies' which Farrell had headed for years. Farrell is a devout Catholic, is anti-abortion and is also opposed to extended trading hours. Don Farrell is the reason we don't have extended trading in SA or gambling on Good Friday. As an example of Farrell's influence, his federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis, despite writing a piece in Flinders Uni's Empire Times supporting abortion and being seen wearing a pro-choice badge around Flinders, was unable to state her position on abortion a few months ago when she was asked her view at a street corner meeting. 'I'm not going to answer questions on my personal beliefs' she said. So much for nepotism.

I don't like the way the Rann government has become closely involved in many non-government areas. The private property development industry is an obvious one. Sport is another. For example Bolkus, Wright and Atkinson were intimately involved in the most recent SAJC debacle, not that you'd know it now. Ploubidis and Bolkus are great mates too, but you won't find a government name anywhere near the SAJC at present. That's why Rann appointed his trusty Philip Bentley (also a close friend of Racing and Police Minister Michael Wright) to conduct the investigation, and why the business of stacking the SAJC membership before the crucial vote to let the government's LMC develop the Cheltenham site will, if the government's luck holds, go uninvestigated. Clue: if you had to stack a club's membership, where would you go for advice on how to do it?

I've drifted off my program of points a little, but you get the idea.

There are heaps of reasons to think that this government needs a few years out of power, whatever the state of the Opposition. Too long in power, too many links, too little transparency, too many expectations, all exacerbated by a very media-savvy premier and a governing elite of a few very powerful men.

We can't expect perfect government out of Labor or Liberal, but we can expect good government, and that's not usually promoted by years in power and an increasing grip on the media and big business.

[Will409]

<snip>

That was quite well written. Would you be willing to post your take and issues with the current Liberal party in this state for a bit of 'equal balance'?

[stumpjumper]

Misattributed post, Wayno. I've edited out the reference.

Will, I don't know that much about the Libs. As I've said, I'm not as much pro Liberal as anti Labor.

I'll tell you about it, straightforward and straight up.

There's good and bad in both Labor and Liberal. I regard the Liberals as a reasonably well-meaning outfit overly concerned with their internal affairs and protocols. They have friends at the big end of town, but so do Labor, especially when they're in office. Labor is saddled with what should be its increasingly irrelevent union connections (based on union participation rates).

Overall Labor and Liberal both deliver similar social democrat governments, with more in common than not.

However, from my point of view, I prefer the basic Liberal philosophy of freedom to achieve than Labor's centralising and controlling philosophy, in areas where there is actually a choice. I don't like dodgy dealing on either side.

Anyway, here are a few Liberal shortcomings. I once asked the Liberal member for Adelaide why Di Laidlaw was Minister for Arts and Transport, given what I considered her lack of interest or aptitude for transport matters. The answer? 'Murray Hill, who groomed Di, was Minister for Arts and Transport. What's more, D H Laidlaw (Di's father) had done an enormous amount for the Liberal Party and would die with his leg in the air if we took Transport away from his daughter.'

Now, what sort of way is that to run a political party?

Several years ago, I went to three Liberal Party branch functions. I suppose I was being recruited. I didn't join because there was no political activism, just social networking, whereas at a couple of Labor branch functions I went to in the Port (when Labor was in opposition) there was discussion about politics in general and re-election in particular. I found that pretty impressive after the Junior Chamber of Commerce feel of the Lib gatherings.

Anyway, I didn't join either party and never have.

So I see the Liberals as having problems which aren't related only to being in opposition. Labor has different problems, but it is their problems in office that put me off as much as the supposed Socialism some of their less practical members go on with.

So I don't bother watching the Libs much, primarily because they're not the government and if they were they'd probably be just as they are now.

But Labor... lack of transparency, abuse of privileges, nepotism, control by unrepresentative union heavyweights and promotion of union hacks, populist or opportunist policy, reliance on spin and obssessive, efficient control of the media, and some fairly crook personalities. If the Libs share all of these traits, it's either to a lesser extent or they don't seem to be so obvious about it.

Speaking of the perks of office, not everyone is aware that politicians get to keep their frequent flyer points without paying fringe benefit tax on them? Kevin Foley spent $!,020,000 on travel from Dec 2002 to Dec 2007 (FOI information). Apart from the amount of travel being outrageous, he didn't have to itemise it, just report it, and he kept every frequent flyer point.

[stumpjumper]

The SAJC business is not so important in itself, but it is an excellent window into the way the Rann government works.

Despite Rann's attempts to distance his government from the vote stacking and other shady dealings, notably by appointing an old and trusted friend to conduct a 'thorough' investigation, a very bad smell is beginning to taint the whole affair.

Now it appears that the trusted friend has been hiding things. Well well.

We so desperately need an independent commission against corruption in this state.

Without one, the government's web of featherbedding, undue influence, favouritism and abuse of taxpayers' trust and funds will continue to spread like a virus.

It's possible that not only did Rann's appointee Philip Bentley know a lot more than he has admitted about any skullduggery at the SAJC, but that others like Labor factional boss Nick Bolkus, Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, Racing and Police Minister Michael Wright and the LMC were involved.

Let's hope that the whole truth comes out. Short of a Royal Commission, an ICAC would be a very good start.

[Wayno]

This is worth a read ==>

MasterPlanPolicyFeb08.pdf

(99.77 KiB) Downloaded 316 times

It touches many of the topics that we care about here in S-A. We all complain about a lack of vision, at least this is heading in the right direction...

Note: I am NOT promoting liberal in this post - just sharing information. I'm still undecided whether to vote liberal/labor/independent

Spoken by Wayno on behalf of Wayno for the "Save The Wayno" Party - Adelaide

[Shuz]

That's the same shit they churned out a year ago. Nothing new. Typical Liberals.

[JamesXander]

That's the same shit they churned out a year ago. Nothing new. Typical Liberals.

Please, there is nothing more annoying then someone who has blinkers on.

Take in suggestions. There are plenty in that report. You are on a developement website for one, and that report has LOTS of projects nad visions for Adelaide.

The one thing that on this website that we hear all the time is that Adelaide lacks vision.


Then you just shoot in down in a ball of flames.... because its typical liberal?


BTW the report is a year old

[Prince George]

I guess that nobody will be surprised to hear that I don't care much for any of these plans for building some sort of White Elephant District with a multi-function-stadium-guggenheim-museum-casino-hotel-supertall-tower grab-bag of delights. This one does seem particularly clunky though, take this paragraph from the section on transportation:

The fact is we have a transport culture based on the motor vehicle and with this comes the need to park our cars. Consequently we have created adequate inner City parking. Thinker in Residence, Charles Landry stated in his report Rethinking Adelaide – capturing imagination ”Big box developers claim they need swathes of car-parking. That’s fine, but how come we in Europe manage with less than half as much and complaints are few.” We need to improve Adelaide’s Roads.

It's almost laughable that they threw in that quote from Charles Landry when they're trying to argue that our parking is inadequate and that we need to build more roads - that quote comes from the section of his report where he is suggesting that the growth boundary should be made explicit and perhaps even shrunk. For good measure, they should have included Jan Gehl's suggestion that the amount of parking in the city could be halved.

And what did people think of the opening page mention of "vocal minorities have dictated the agenda" with the actual details in sections 8.1 and 9.1?

I also chuckle at lines like "Adelaide needs a new world class 5 star or 6 star hotel" - just how many stars are we handing out these days? Michelin only hands out three stars to the best restaurants in the world, we're going to shoot for twice as many? I say, why stop there - let's build a twelve-star hotel, or thirty-star, or even a hundred! I want to see a travel guide book that has to devote an entire page to just the stars for a single Adelaide hotel.

What I want to see from these people are answers to more straightforward questions - economic ones. What am I going to do for a crust in Adelaide? Are my kids going to leave town for work? What businesses are going to drive our future, how are we going to start and support them? How are we going to bring money into the state from outside? How are we going to develop a local economy that sustains itself in the face of problems elsewhere?

If you compare this with the London Plan, you can see that London's focus is much more heavily on the economics of the city as a whole and much less on the specifics of building this or that structure. I think that their kind of planning is going to work rather better than the ones I've seen for Adelaide so far.

[Shuz]

I am seriously alarmed by the increase of Liberal would-be voters.

I have mentioned it to my friends and the such already, but I guess, I'll make mention of it now.
If they elected; I am moving state. Sorry if I'm contributing to the 'mass migration of our youth interstate', but I cannot live with the decimation of our state by the Liberals.

And to be honest, you lot can go on about how ignorant and idiotic that may seem - but I believe many people are being ignorant and idiotic for actually having faith in the Liberal party to lead this state, especially with MHS at the helm. It's a recipe for disaster.

[Cruise]

I have mentioned it to my friends and the such already, but I guess, I'll make mention of it now.
If they elected; I am moving state. Sorry if I'm contributing to the 'mass migration of our youth interstate', but I cannot live with the decimation of our state by the Liberals.

For that reason alone, I have just decided to vote liberal.

[rhino]

For that reason alone, I have just decided to vote liberal.

At the risk of a 24-hour ban, "THEN YOU'RE A DICKHEAD!"

No offense meant, I just had to throw that in

[Shuz]

Oh god, this is tormenting.

[rev]

I wouldn't be alarmed. The same thing happens on the News.com.au/Adelaidenow.com.au site.

If you look at official polls, Labor is well ahead. - I'm sure the (I suspect- who else would waste their time?)Liberal staffers and Young Liberal members who distort the online polls would love to be able to do the same to the official polls. But thank the Lord they can't, because it gives us a real indication of the publics view, and highlights the desperate measures taken by the Libs.

And why is Labor ahead???

Well what has Hamilton-Smith offered? Pie in the sky stuff without any idea how it will all be paid for. If that's all it takes to lead a political party, why aren't we all party leaders? I've got some great ideas. Don't know how they will be paid for. But they are lovely ideas. Vote for me.
He will build us a new stadium, but nobody knows were the money will come from.
He will rebuild the RAH, but again were's the money coming from?
What else has he offered?
What are his policies?
Who knows....

Labor is getting things done. Turning South Road into a non-stop north-south corridor is well under way.
Tram line extension is going ahead.
Electrification of the rail network is going ahead.
Turning the ASC/Outher Harbour area into a ship building centre.