Federal Election 2019: On the hustings with James Stevens the Liberal Party candidate for Sturt

You couldn’t find a more dyed in the wool candidate to replace Christopher Pyne in the blue-ribboned federal seat of Sturt than James Stevens — we spend a day with him on the campaign trail.

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You couldn’t find a more dyed in the wool candidate to replace Christopher Pyne in the blue-ribboned federal seat of Sturt than James Stevens.

Born in the electorate at the then Queen Victoria Hospital at Rose Park; he grew up at Toorak Gardens, was schooled at St Peter’s College and lives in Kent Town.

Politics of the blue variety has been in his blood since well before university and the biggest clincher of all is — he’s a Norwood Redlegs and Adelaide Crows fan.

“It’s hardly baggage in the seat of Sturt to barrack for those two,” he says.

“If you want to represent a community you have to demonstrate a connection and involvement in it and I certainly have that.

“If I was ever going to run for a seat this was the electorate. Most of the major elements of my life are connected with Sturt.”

We’re siting at Sfizio cafe in the heart of the Sturt electorate on Norwood Parade.

Before resigning in March, Stevens was chief of staff to state Premier Steven Marshall and a former president of the SA Young Liberals. So he’s hardly a reluctant political candidate.

But the 36-year-old claims he was caught by surprise when his political mentor stood down in Sturt.

James Stevens with one of his corflutes.

He’s fully aware of the pressure of filling Pyne’s shoes and retaining the seat for the Liberals.

“I was expecting to be Christopher’s campaign manager again as he’s only 51,” he says.

“Clearly we need to win Sturt to win the election but this is a marginal seat and whenever you get a prominent member of parliament standing down and a government that’s been in power for six years, it’s tough.

“My responsibility to the Liberal party is to make sure we keep Sturt and prove to people that they were right to put their trust in me.”

The Liberals holds Sturt by a comfortable 5.4 per cent following an electoral boundary redistribution but the man who joined the party aged 16 has contemplated losing.

“Sturt is a seat that can be lost if you don’t work hard and show that connection to the community,” he says.

“It’s been regularly a very close contest and will be again this time. And I’m doing everything I can to work every minute of every day to meet as many people as possible and to convince people to vote for me.”

It’s a far call from a previous career in the wool industry working for the Michell Group based at Salisbury.

Sturt voters probably don’t know yet they are have a former “Indiana Jones” as a candidate.

“I went to some very interesting parts of the world in textiles and found some interesting cuisine and accommodation,” he says.

“I went to every continent except Antarctica.

“It was like being in an Indiana Jones movie, getting on an aeroplane and exploring a place the world’s never really heard about. It was so great selling something from South Australia to the world.

“But it’s like the Peter Allen song and there was nothing better than thinking of home and finally getting back to Adelaide Airport.”

James Stevens at Sfizio cafe on Norwood Parade

He intends taking that love for the state to Canberra if he wins.

“People want to know you’re going to fight for South Australia in Canberra and that’s what I’ll do,” he says.

“We have new challenges around the River Murray and we need to make sure we sort those out.”

Out on the hustings he hasn’t found people out with the baseball bats to batter the government but he has found a general antipathy to politicians in general.

“There’s a view in the community that standards in politics can see a drastic improvement,” he adds.

“People want an end to the personality obsession.

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“You’d be pretty silly as a politician to keep on prosecuting with that kind of behaviour.

“I’ve been around a lot of elections and there’s been a good dignity about the contest in Sturt.

“All candidates have been focused on the issues with no personal animosity and that’s the approach I would want to take to Canberra.”

Only winning preselection around eight weeks ago, Stevens’ dash for Canberra has been a sprint not a marathon — but with a week to go he’s avoided any major blunder to derail the campaign.

And as a canny political operator, you wouldn’t expect him too.

“You can’t be afraid of your own shadow though,” he says. “You’ve got to be yourself and listen to the public rather than talk at them.”

James Stevens, Liberal party candidate for Sturt at the 2019 Federal Election at Norwood Oval

As we finish up with a stroll to Norwood Oval — where he first attended as a six year old — he relates a story of UK mates from his business days still travelling the world and making squillions.

“I should have stayed in wool,” he jokes, but somehow you know, regardless of the result in Sturt, James Stevens, will be sticking with a career in politics.