Federal Election 2019: Christopher Pyne has quit politics and is leaving behind some confused voters in Sturt
Long-serving MP Christopher Pyne has quit. The voters he leaves behind are increasingly disillusioned about a system they feel is letting them down — meet the people in the seat of Sturt.
Federal Election
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In the Gilles Plains shopping centre, right on the edge of the electorate of Sturt, soon to be vacated by Christopher Pyne, a shopper, a woman, perhaps in her late 50s keeps walking as she offers an opinion on the federal election.
“I couldn’t care less about voting,’’ she says forcefully.
After a few more steps, she stops, turns around and expands on her opening gambit. “I vote, but they are a bunch of f**king liars’’. Then continues on her way.
It’s an easy and familiar refrain that Australians are apathetic about their politicians and their politics.
That as a country we don’t pay much attention to pollies or what they have to say.
But it’s more than that now.
There is also an aggression towards a system they feel is letting the country down. It’s not an empty apathy.
It’s fuelled by a disgust at a political system that has turned ever more insular in the last decade as both Labor and Liberal have discarded prime ministers at an unprecedented rate.
There have been six PMs since 2010, the year Julia Gillard knocked off Kevin Rudd. A litany of depressing political failure that has encompassed that blighted duo, plus Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.
Sturt is a broad suburban electorate in the eastern half of Adelaide.
It has been Pyne’s fiefdom since he was first elected in 1993, but he is retiring and is hoping he will be replaced by his protégé James Stevens.
Stevens is battling Labor’s Cressida O’Hanlon for the seat. A poll this week in The Advertisersuggested Stevens is well placed to win a spot in Canberra.
Sturt stretches from Oakden and Gilles Plain on one side to the well-heeled suburbs of Hazelwood Park and Beaumont. On its southern side it takes in Hackney and Kent Town and it moves north to Athelstone and Rostrevor.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics it is older than the Australian average, 6.2 per cent of its residents are 80 or older, compared to 3.9 per cent across the nation, has more professionals, but fewer tradies, more who have completed year 12 at school and more who own their home outright.
Tim King is unloading his work ute in Kensington Gardens.
He works for the Burnside Council in its parks and gardens and says, like many others he hasn’t quite decided who to vote for.
Issues such as childcare costs and taxes are upper most in his mind, but something he would also like to see is a return to a semblance of stability in Australian democracy.
“The way Australian politics is going, we vote one person in, and then they swap them out. For the public, it’s like what’s the point of voting in an election, if they are just going to get thrown out.
“We are a laughing stock around the world.’’
King’s first instinct when approached was to say he “can’t stand politics’’ but he gives a thoughtful, considered answer which reflects the feelings of many who spoke to The Advertiser.
Back in Gilles Plains, real estate agent Robert Field echoed the thoughts of King. “I think all Australians want to keep the prime minister we have voted in.’’
Beyond that though, King, a regular Liberal voter, was happy with the status quo. He wants to see Scott Morrison re-elected.
“Despite the infighting, they have done a good job. I feel under the Liberals, the country will be richer.’’
He has little time for the Clive Palmer circus, although he believes the intervention of the Queensland billionaire, who polled 9 per cent in that Advertiser poll this week, could help Morrison defeat Bill Shorten once preferences are distributed.
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“Clive Palmer is Australia’s answer to Donald Trump and I would not vote for him.’’
Underneath the seam of discontent about the system itself, voting preferences are split along predictable ways. By age and class, by geography and employment status.
In the Burnside Village shopping centre, 83-year-old Delia Kennett and 85-year-old Andrew Brown are enjoying a morning coffee. Both are engaging and tuned into the election campaign.
Both are worried about Labor’s plan to end franking credits which they say will hurt them. Brown says it could cost him about $13,000.
Delia Kennett, a retired real estate agent who once sold a house to a young Christopher Pyne, says the Labor policy will ultimately be self-defeating.
“We are not costing the government anything in pensions,’’ she says. “We are used to being independent.’’
Brown was TAFE lecturer and believes Labor is offering quick fixes to bribe voters.
“Unfortunately, the Liberal policies are more long term,’’ he says citing tax cuts and budget repair. “And therefore less attractive to voters.’’
At the other end of the age spectrum, first time voters Isaac Siciliano and Maddy Healey have not given much thought to franking credits. Both are 18 and both are students at the University of South Australia’s Magill campus. They admit the campaign has passed them by so far, well, mostly.
“The only thing I can remember is the Clive Palmer ads,’’ says Healey.
Sitting in the Tower Hotel at Magill for a quick lunch, Siciliano adds the “Palmer campaign is pretty weird’’.
Both are still making up their minds who to vote for. Healey says she will be voting for the “least worst’’ option, but adds she will “vote for someone who does something about climate change. Siciliano supports that but also mentions an issue closer to home as well.
“More needs to be done for uni students because it is very expensive.’’
Cost-of-living is another thread that has run through the campaign.
At a playground in Kensington Gardens, friends Melanie Adams and Nicole Pirrie are trying to keep their combined children occupied. Both worry about childcare costs. Action on climate change is also a priority.
“It can definitely sway me,’’ Pirrie says of policies on childcare.
“Every little bit helps.’’ But she won’t be making a decision until the campaign’s dying days. Pirrie says the “bitching’’ that happened after the last poll had turned her off politics.
Adams has a personal connection to Liberal candidate James Stevens. They studied music together but says she hasn’t seen him in years.
“To see his face everywhere at the moment is weird.’’
Few people The Advertiser spoke to in Sturt declared they had settled their vote. It may be a natural Australian reticence to talk politics in public or it could be the choices offered by both Labor and Liberal are so underwhelming that it’s a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Outside Argo’s cafe on Norwood Parade, hospitality worker Shaun Lau places himself in the “swinging voter” category. The 39-year-old lists climate change and increasing costs for small business as among his concerns.
“I think small business has been copping a lot with how expensive it is to run a business,’’ he says.
But he also believes politicians must behave better for the benefit of the nation. He would like to see more bipartisanship between the major parties. “I like a politician who has a plan and doesn’t just criticise what the other person is doing.’’
Which at least suggests Lau has some faith in the system.
At the OG Hotel in Klemzig, Andrew McFadyen has lost his entirely. It’s been a while since he voted but says he doesn’t “mind’’ Pauline Hanson and Fraser Anning.
As for Labor and Liberal?
“Bill Shorten or ScoMo? They both want to rip you off. They are both full of shit.’’
Which brings us back to where we started.
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