The battle for Boothby: A day on the hustings with Nicolle Flint MP
Her opponents are fired up for a fight after Nicolle Flint signed her name to Peter Dutton’s failed coup but the Liberal Boothby MP says her record of hard work will win her marginal seat.
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Boothby MP Nicolle Flint considers herself a hard worker. And she’ll never have to work harder than during her campaign to retain South Australia’s most marginal seat for the Liberals.
It’s 8.30am on a Tuesday — a typical day on the campaign — and, on her second engagement of a very long day, Ms Flint’s up at Belair National Park meeting community groups, with a couple of figurative cheques in her back pocket to throw around.
There’s a veritable cavalcade of Liberal politicians in tow — including the federal Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population, Alan Tudge from Victoria, the state Minister for Environment and Water, David Speirs, along with state MP for Waite Sam Duluk.
A collective of three government staffers record the speeches and take the photos to be posted on social media.
The gathering before around 50 Friends of Old Parliament House and Friends of Belair National Park is a compelling demonstration of how to win friends and influence people — and the inherent power of incumbency.
As part of the Federal/State Governments City Deal arrangement, there is more than $165,000 for new kitchens and upgrades at the gardens.
The house, park and gardens are also to be included in the Mitcham Hills Trail with $450,000 pledged for physical signage and the development of an app to inform people along the trail that includes the rich list of cultural and heritage sites of the region.
“It’s wonderful making people happy,” Flint tells me later at Carrick Hill House, which has received its own $3 million upgrade grant.
“This is why I do this job. This is an incredible community with the most wonderful volunteers. And I’ve done my best to support them.”
Flint seems so at ease in the MP role it’s hard to believe she originally had to be dragged kicking and screaming to place her name down as a candidate.
She credits former Boothby MP of 20 years Dr Andrew Southcott and his wife, Kate, for — after four meetings — finally twisting her arm to stand.
So how have three years in Canberra changed her?
“Well, I’ve aged a lot,” she says, only half-joking.
“I’m 40 now … but on a personal level I’ve become better in my policy development. You realise how important it is to communicate a message to a minister and become effective. I’ve learned how to better distil down and communicate an issue.”
One success she details is money for education and research into women’s health issues, including stillbirth and endometriosis — matters that have never before been on the agenda.
Another is securing a solution for the Oaklands Crossing debacle, where congestion and traffic delays on Morphett and Diagonal roads were legendary.
“That was a 40-year-old problem for my community no politician had addressed,” she says. “We’ve got $95m for it and it is almost fixed. Those in the area will tell you this was their number one priority.”
She becomes emotional talking about the reopening of the Repatriation Hospital at Daw Park.
with funding for a brain and spinal unit, a specialist dementia care section, and a unit to treat eating disorders.
“These are some of our most vulnerable citizens and I wanted those people with those challenges to be in a safe place,” she says.
“And the Repat is that safe place. Oakden was so horrific, and I know people in my electorate who were personally affected.”
Fighting for veterans is another issue that can bring her to tears. Finally securing a gold card for volunteer nurses who served in Vietnam was the one speech in parliament she didn’t think she would finish.
This month is the centenary of her great-grandfather returning to South Australia from World War I. A member of the famous 48th Battalion and having fought at the battles of Pozieres and Bullecourt, where the slaughter of Australian soldiers was immense, he was held as a prisoner of war for 20 months.
“I was elected (to parliament) 100 years after he went to Europe,” Flint adds.
“He and my great-grandmother lived in a war service home at Lower Mitcham. They established the Baptist church at Colonel Light Gardens and she taught at the Colonel Light Gardens primary school, as did my grandmother.
“My entire family has connections here so it means a lot to represent this electorate — and I do my best to make them proud.”
Her biggest surprise being in parliament, which every voter can agree with, is how boring Question Time can be.
But what about the failures and frustrations — the things that couldn’t be achieved?
“I’ve learned you can’t always solve every problem, no matter how hard you try,” she adds.
“I feel things very deeply and it hurts when you can’t help someone.”
What also appears to hurt, although she’s loath to agree, are the personal attacks on her that have become a feature of the battle for Boothby.
“All of the rubbish that GetUp and the unions and Labor to an extent, who are getting them to do their dirty work, are throwing at me … I just try and remember I do it for these people,” she says, waving in the direction of a happy group of Carrick Hill volunteers.
“It’s got very personal … disgraceful … attack me on policy by all means, but there should be no personal attacks.
“This should be all about the battle of ideas, but the politics is the thing you have to win to get the achievements.”
Becoming an MP has come at a personal cost with long hours and the lack of time with family and friends but she’s certainly not contemplating losing on May 18.
“I’m going to continue working as hard as I can so I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it,” she says
And with that she’s back on the campaign trail, shaking hands again.
Then it is off to the electoral office on Marion Rd to answer emails, sign constituent birthday cards and deal with issues — and then out doorknocking for five hours.
Later that night she visits the Blackwood RSL club.
No day is the same but, halfway through the campaign, they are all important to holding the seat.
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