Michael McGuire: It’s almost as if Jay Weatherill has given up on older voters who are fed up with 16 years of Labor

JAY Weatherill’s official election slogan may be “Standing Up for South Australia” but it may as well be “The Kids are All Right”, writes Michael McGuire.

JAY Weatherill’s official election slogan may be “Standing Up for South Australia” but it may as well be “The Kids are All Right.” It appears Weatherill’s campaign strategy is built around attracting voters under the age of 40.

Possibly he has given up on older voters, who are by now sick of 16 years of Labor. That now familiar roll call of incompetence. Oakden, TAFE, Families SA, energy prices, Gillman etc etc. Labor has proved itself less than adept at dealing with the nuts and bolts of government, and is instead asking voters to believe in the future, rather than examine the past.

So, it’s all about vision, dreams and the big picture. Details are left for older, duller people to attend to.

For younger voters this will resonate better than with the more seasoned, possibly more cynical observers.

Thus we have the focus on renewable energy, solar panels and household batteries, new trams, the constant references to Adelaide Oval and small bars, food trucks and “vibrancy”. Even a new broadband network for the city.

Young parents have been targeted in recent days with promises of free vaccines for kids and new childcare centres. An earlier promise had promised laptops for all Year 10 students.

Then there is of course Elon Musk. The king of the nerds himself has become a familiar name to South Australians due to his government-sponsored “world’s biggest battery’’.

Weatherill’s status as the Member for Tesla is well known.

If electors were playing a drinking game and downing a shot each time Musk or Tesla picked up a mention, we’d all be in rehab by now.

At a leaders’ debate this week, Weatherill, dressed in his now trademark vibrant young persons’ blue suit and red tie, made one truly remarkable comment: “Don’t turn back now, we’re just beginning to make some extraordinary gains.”

Beginning? It’s a government that’s been there for 16 years. You would have hoped they could have started before now.

Weatherill and Labor will be hoping some of the demographics are moving in their favour. While South Australia is an ageing state, more young people are coming onto the electoral roll.

Last year’s plebiscite on gay marriage encouraged a rush of younger people to sign up to the electoral roll. Nationally, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, 98,000 people joined the roll before the plebiscite.

Of those 65,000 were aged between 18 and 24. More South Australians are enrolled to vote at this election than any other. The State Electoral Commission says 60,000 more people are eligible to vote than in 2014 and it’s a fair bet many are younger people.

Weatherill may also be trying to tap into some of the sentiment that helped UK Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and US Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Neither men won their contests but both were closer to victory than most thought possible.

A survey after last year’s UK election found 61.5 per cent of under-40s voted for Corbyn. Only 23 per cent voted for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Tory party.

The turn out at the UK election (where voting is not compulsory) for those aged between 18 and 24 also jumped from 43 per cent to 66 per cent.

Weatherill’s efforts to secure the younger vote has been helped by Liberal leader Steven Marshall who has talked often of the desirability of keeping more young people in the state. But he hasn’t used the same buzz words that Weatherill is so fond of.

He steers away from Weatherill’s clean, green future, instead talking vaguely of supporting renewables. He is against the tram up to trendy Norwood.

As Weatherill likes to point out, the Liberals at various times opposed the Oval, small bars and food trucks.

Marshall instead talks in vaguer terms about improving economic growth, which will in turn create better jobs for younger people.

But it’s harder to make an emotional connection with a “rising tide lifts all boats’’ argument than it is with the idea that Elon loves us and wants us all to have Teslas.

In an election where any outcome still seems possible, the age gap could prove crucial.