Boothby voters not sold on Liberals’ ‘Band-Aid’ Budget offering

Boothby could be the key to winning government in Australia but the Coalition’s big budget pitch may have missed the mark, according to these voters.

Punters in South Australia’s most marginal federal electorate say the budget’s local spending is welcomed but many are already put off re-electing a Liberal government.

Fuel tax cuts, investment in the health and mental health sectors and an increase to welfare payments were items on the top of the wishlist for residents in Boothby, which stretches from Crafers West to Glenelg but many were left wanting more.

Among them were Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club members Angus Higgins, 18, and Nathanial Drummond, 19, who head to the polling booths for the first time this year.

Mr Higgins, of Seacliff Park, praised the government’s commitment to housing affordability but was still scared he “won’t be able to afford a home”.

Mr Drummond said the budget was not enough to sway him away from voting Labor.

“I come from a Labor family, so I think that’s the way I’m leaning at this point in time, he said.

Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club members Taylor Nixon-O’Brien, Nathaniel Drummond, Tom May and Angus Higgins on the beach in Adelaide. Picture: Morgan Sette

Tom May, 22, of Colonel Light Gardens thought the government had not offered enough help for low-income earners.

“I think what they announced still benefits middle income workers more than anything,” he said.

“With the way housing prices are going at the moment they should be doing all they can.”

Elsewhere, the budget’s spending did not pass the pub test with patrons at the Edinburgh Hotel in Mitcham sticking to their pre-budget guns.

Jessica Burgess, a medically retired navy officer, has voted Liberal her whole life but will jump ship this year.

“Yes the budget has offered some relief from these costs, but these are all only temporary things that are slated to be gone by thee next financial year,” Ms Burgess said.

She was also disappointed with the investment into mental health.

“Mental health is the silent pandemic within in Australia. How many men, women and children have to die at their own hands before real assistance is offer in this area?”

Boothby residents Mary Angley, Mary Louise Lamont, Narelle Downes, Jessica Burgess and Stuart McIntyre at the Edinburgh Hotel in Mitcham. Picture: Tom Huntley

Ahead of the budget, Ms Burgess’ partner, Stuart Macintyre, a MFS and CFS firefighter, said the cost of living was affecting people all over the state, especially in the supermarket.

He said the fuel excise was a “Band-Aid solution” to a long-term problem.

Mary Angley, 89, who lives on an Age Pension, said she was undecided on which way her vote would go after the budget but was leaning towards Labor for the first time after she was disappointed with the government’s spend on welfare.

“It should be a pension rise of at least $20 a week,” she said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is yet to call a day for this year’s federal election with mid-May the likely option.

In the last federal election held in 2019, outgoing Liberal MP Nicole Flint won Boothby by just 2.7 per cent.