The rusted on Australians: Why Adelaide booth of Torrensville keeps voting for the same party at every federal election

A left-wing stronghold on Adelaide’s inner west is unlikely to budge on election day but support for the Liberal Party is growing according to locals.

The Liberal Party appears to have bolstered its reputation in a rusted-on Labor booth in Adelaide’s west.

Through local canvassing on the federal election, swings have been noted across a broad variety of metropolitan electoral polling booths.

However, the same cannot be said for the Torrensville booth.

The electoral booth at Thebarton Senior College sits in the federal electorate of Adelaide which has been held by Labor since 2004.

Scroll down to find all of SA’s rusted on booths using our searchable table

In 2019, Steve Georganas had a convincing win, with a strong margin of 846 votes and 71.83 per cent of two-candidate preferred votes going to the ALP.

Allegiance to the party can be demonstrated through local retiree Peter, 55, who preferred not to give his surname.

Peter said he had been brought up to vote Labor.

“I’ve always been Labor – I can’t stand ScoMo, he’s annoying and has no authority,” Peter said.

“All the good things in this country have come from Labor, like Medicare and the pension.”

Peter, Torrensville voter. Picture Jason Katsaras

Local artist and former director of the State Theatre of South Australia, Rosalba Clemente, 63, said she would always vote for the Greens but considered Labor to be the lesser of two evils.

“I think Labor are becoming more soft right,” Ms Clemente said.

“I vote Greens because of my concern over climate change, our disgraceful treatment of refugees and the fact we’ve had no true reconciliation process with indigenous Australians.

“There’s a lot of young people moving with kids to this suburb and it’s good to know some of them have similar values.”

Rosalia Clemente, Torrensville voter. Picture Jason Katsaras

As the traditionally working class area sees an increase in houses purchased as investment properties and rented out, it appears share houses are more than willing to pick-up the baton of Labor and Greens support.

Housemates Ember Satyn and Jess Johns, both 26, said the Greens aligned with their values on a number of issues.

Ms Johns works as a phlebotomist while Ms Satyn is a barista.

“I’m unhappy with the federal government, I don’t know many people who are a fan of ScoMo,” Ms Johns said.

Ember Satyn and Jess Johns, Torrensville voters. Picture: Jason Katsaras

It was a similar situation for Adelaide Fringe worker Airlie Walters, who said the environment and climate policy were her top priorities.

“I’m not too sure who I’ll be voting for but it won’t be ScoMo,” she said.

Torrensville voter Airlie Walters. Picture: Brinley Duggan

Torrensville is also home to culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Voter Alinour Osman originally hailed from Eritrea.

He was amazed by the standard of living in Australia.

“Labor or Liberal, I’m happy either way there’s no comparison to Eritrea,” Mr Osman said.

Mr Osman, 50, said he thought the Liberal Party did a good job in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was frustrated about the jobs market because, despite working as an accountant for over 20 years, he cannot find work.

Torrensville voter Alinour Osman. Picture: Brinley Duggan

Many political analysts have speculated for decades that safe seats often attract less attention or funding than marginal ones.

Local teacher Russell Max was aware of this and said he wished Torrensville and the wider electorate of Adelaide was more marginal to attract more attention from the opposition and government.

“I don’t like living in a seat that is so safe because we don’t get anything and there’s no focus,” Mr Max said.

“I hope we’re not so safe in the future.”

Torrensville voter Russell Max. Picture: Brinley Duggan

Mr Russell identified as a swing voter, but said he would likely be voting for the Coalition, based on its “track record of supporting stability and national security”.