Electorate profile — Dunstan: Steven Marshal holds seat with only a 3.0 per cent margin

THIS will be one of the state’s keenly-watched seats because the incumbent is aspiring premier Steven Marshall. But his first challenge is to hold off rivals in the seat of Dunstan.

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• READ BELOW: Tram plan sends ALP off track

NAMED after the man regarded as South Australia’s most reformist Premier, the seat of Dunstan could soon be the home of the state’s next leader if Steven Marshall is granted his electoral wish.

Like Don Dunstan, who led the Labor Party from 1953 to 1979, Mr Marshall has been campaigning to create his own legacy as the premier of South Australia for the Liberal Party. Across town, Jay Weatherill is the MP for Cheltenham — seen as a safe seat in Labor heartland.

In 2010, Mr Marshall defeated the ALP’s Vini Ciccarello who had held the seat for 13 years.

Mr Marshall’s profile should be enough to all but guarantee re-election.

OPPOSITION: Caffe Buongiorno’s Ronald Anderson says Norwood residents don’t want the tram link. Picture: DEAN MARTIN/AAP

But on a margin of just 3.9 per cent he has never been able to rest on his laurels.

And the introduction of a Nick Xenophon’s SA Best candidate to the mix means nothing is a certainty.

SA Best candidate, 27-year-old aeronautical engineer Jack Noonan, would create one of the greatest talking points of modern SA election campaigns if he won the seat — most likely by running second and overtaking Mr Marshall of preferences.

The ALP has put up a former federal candidate, Matt Loader, who has been getting kudos for his campaigning at grassroots level, to take on the seat once known as Norwood.

To help Mr Loader, Premier Jay Weatherill threw up one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of the campaign. Twenty days out from polling day, Mr Weatherill announced the 3km tramline dubbed EastLink that he says would run for the city to The Parade in Norwood.

Mr Marshall quickly dismissed the project as something that would not happen and was unnecessary.

When The Advertiser visited The Parade during the week, the jury was well and truly out on trams running down the strip regarded as the greatest high street shopping district in the country.

Manda Werhun, who is the store manger of popular toy store Kidstuff, said residents did not appear to be fans of the tram idea at all. “It is a beautiful street,” Ms Werhun said.

“There is also so much construction going on around Adelaide, I am a little afraid of what impact it would have on business.”

THE 29-year-old, originally from Melbourne, said she would like candidates talking about encouraging more community involvement.

“The Parade should be open for more street festivals — that would be amazing,” she said.

The leafy suburbs captured by the seat boast several schools with great reputations, prompting parents to rent or buy in the area just to ensure their children are in the school catchment area — there are also rumours some parents flout the rules by saying their children live in the zone when they do not.

But Ronald Anderson, co-owner of Caffe Buongiorno, an institution on the shopping strip since opening in 1990, said it was the tram proposal that has dominated discussion.

“The comments are not favourable by customers, business owners and residents,” he said.

“It is all negative. There are people on council in favour of it, but there are not many others.” Mr Anderson said Mr Marshall has been prominent during the campaign.

“I know Steven Marshall fairly well, he is a regular customer and he goes to the Italian soccer matches and Italian functions.

“He is very affable. He is a nice chap. I like him.”

He said the election campaign has been low-key. “It seems that the media is excited about Xenophon but the tables have turned on him — I don’t think he is as popular as everyone thought he would be,” he said.

“I think Weatherill got it (the last election) by luck and that might have some impression on the election this time.”

Tram plan sends ALP off track

ANALYSIS

By Matt Smith

FRESH Galaxy polling, published in The Advertiser today, shows just how tight a race it is for the man that wants to be the next Premier of the South Australia.

Galaxy estimates he is headed for a 53-47 victory over Labor’s Matt Loader. The numbers are tighter than Mr Marshall would probably like, but if the polling was to be replicated on Saturday, Mr Marshall will win the seat — one of two Liberal seats Labor had been confident it could snare back.

It seems a last-minute bid to secure the seat by offering up a tram extension to The Parade may be Labor’s undoing in the end.

While a few see the promise as an opportunity to bring better public transport to the region, others cannot envisage it without also thinking of damage to trees, traffic delays and previous promises that never saw the light of day.