Counting for Davenport by-election under way
OPPOSITION Leader Steven Marshall has refused to explicitly endorse Prime Minister Tony Abbott as he claims the party’s narrow Davenport by-election win is a “great result”.
OPPOSITION Leader Steven Marshall has refused to explicitly endorse Prime Minister Tony Abbott as he claims the party’s narrow Davenport by-election win is a “great result”.
Liberal candidate Sam Duluk has claimed victory in the by-election, triggered by the retirement of former leader Iain Evans, over Labor with a 52-48 two-party preferred margin.
Mr Marshall conceded federal issues had played a factor in the by-election and said today’s Sunday Mail-Galaxy poll showed the Coalition clearly “has some issues”.
Asked if he supported Mr Abbott to continue as federal party leader until the next election, Mr Mr Marshall said: “It doesn’t help anybody for state MPs to come into the fray.”
“I’m not going to be speculating on any federal leadership issues at the moment,” he said.
“It’s very unhelpful for state leaders and state MPs to be fuelling any issues regarding leadership in the Coalition. The Coalition have obviously got a pretty difficult poll that’s just been released.
“They’ve got work ahead of them, there’s no doubt.
“It doesn’t help anybody for state MPs to come into the fray.”
Mr Marshall said the by-election win was a “great result”, despite a 6 per cent swing to Labor.
“Obviously, we’re delighted with the result yesterday in Davenport,” he said.
“It’s a great result, we’ve got a new person in (the) South Australian team.
“There’s a range of issues which come into account in a by-election. Some of them state, some of them federal, some of them local, some of them just people’s personal disposition.
“We’ll do an analysis over the coming days, the coming weeks.”
Mr Marshall said Mr Evans had a huge personal following and his departure had cost votes.
“When you’ve got somebody who has been in the seat for an extended period of time, they build up a lot of personal following, and that’s exactly what Iain did,” Mr Marshall said.
“He had an enormous personal following which was built up over 21 years.
“There was always going to be an adjustment in this by-election.”
Mr Marshall said Labor could have even won the seat if it matched Liberal road promises.
“If they had have come out and matched the Liberal Party’s policy to upgrade Main Rd, something they committed to doing in 2009, they probably would have taken this seat,” he said.
“Instead, they have chosen to play politics. “Instead, they decided to talk about the Coalition in Canberra, Tony Abbott, anything which would be a diversion from their own poor performance.”
Mr Duluk said he was “very honoured, I’m very humbled to be elected”.
“It’s great result for me, and it’s a great result for the Liberal Party,” he said.
SA Senator Nick Xenophon said Davenport was “once a jewel in state Liberal crown” that had now become a “cubic zirconia, largely thanks to PM Abbott”.
Mr Duluk boasted a 52-48 lead on a two-party preferred basis when counting closed last night and claimed the seat despite a 6 per cent swing to Labor candidate Mark Ward.
With 18,501 votes counted in the seat which has 24,916 electors enrolled, the Liberals had claimed 46 per cent of the primary vote to Labor’s 34 per cent. The Greens trailed the major parties with 13 per cent of the primary vote.
Family First and the Democrats took four and three per cent of primary votes respectively.
Labor required an 8 per cent swing to take the seat, which was held by Mr Evans until his retirement in the wake of last year’s general election loss.
Mr Marshall said Mr Duluk brought renewal to the party room.
“Last year was a pretty tough year for the Liberal Party,” he conceded. “This year is a new start. “Now is the time for renewal and for our party to be looking forward.
“I think it’s fantastic to have someone in Parliament with such a great background and skills in banking and finance, which are sorely lost on the Treasury benches.”
Mr Duluk has spent his professional career in accounting and finance, including with the ANZ Bank.
The Liberal win takes the party’s numbers in State Parliament to 21 seats. Labor will boast a majority of 24 seats when Parliament resumes on February 10, enough votes to pass legislation in its own right, and retains the support of the two independent ministers.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the swing was a “fantastic result” for Labor.
“Tony Abbott and his cuts are deeply unpopular, but the reason why the state Liberals get punished is that they don’t stand up against them,” Mr Weatherill said.
“We have said, election after election, that we’ll stand up against Tony Abbott.
“Steven Marshall keeps making excuses. I don’t know how many elections he has to lose or get massive swings against him (in) before he realises he has to stand with us to defend SA.”
Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said Mr Marshall was being punished for “towing the party line” sent from Canberra.
“Yesterday’s result in Queensland and Davenport aren’t a personal retribution to the Prime Minister, they’re towards his policies,” Mr Koutsantonis said.
“That’s the one part that Steven Marshall keeps on getting wrong.
“The reason Steven Marshall keeps getting these swings or losing seats is because he doesn’t stand up to Canberra.
“If Tony Abbott goes, and we get a new Liberal prime minister, the policies don’t change.”
The Liberal camp was filled with jitters as polling closed following a horror week for the party’s brand resulting from Mr Abbott’s decision to award a knighthood to Prince Philip.
Senior Liberal strategists and MPs yesterday said Mr Abbott had become especially “toxic” in SA amid of uncertainty in the defence sector and the impending closure of the car industry.
Several said it appeared Mr Abbott’s leadership was now “terminal” and swings against the Liberals in Davenport and at the Queensland state election would intensify calls for him to be replaced — most likely by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop — before the May Budget.
Mr Evans inherited the seat from his father, Stan, on entering Parliament in 1993.
When it got a bit nasty in the trenches
By Sheradyn Holderhead
Labor was forced to remove its how to vote cards, which stated that Liberal candidate Sam Duluk did not live in the electorate, which includes Blackwood, Hawthorndene and Flagstaff Hill, after the Liberals made a complaint to the Electoral Commissioner.
After casting his vote, Mr Duluk said he moved into the electorate at the end of November and had lived in the Mitcham hills for the past couple of years, so was well informed about local issues.
“I’ve lived in the electorate for a good few weeks now. But I’ve lived in the Mitcham hills for the last couple of years,” he said.
“Labor’s vote cards are clearly incorrect. It’s really just another dirty trick by the Labor Party.”
About an hour after the issue was raised with the Electoral Commissioner, Labor Party state secretary Reggie Martin released a statement that the party would remove the cards.
New ones that did not mention the Liberal candidate were quickly circulated.
“While we believe there remains some ambiguity, after a conversation with the Electoral Commissioner, we have agreed to change the how to vote flyer,” the statement said.
However, a letter from Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley to the Liberals reveals that Labor was forced to “cease distribution” of the cards.
At Hawthorndene Primary School, an argument erupted between Labor and Liberal volunteers over just how local each party’s candidate was.
Retired Liberal MP Iain Evans, who held the seat of Davenport for 20 years, was among those exchanging heated words on the booth as Labor candidate Mark Ward arrived to cast his vote.
Mr Ward said he had lived in the electorate for 18 years and had run a “very good local campaign”.
“All we can do is give people a choice and that’s what I’ve done,” he said.
Greens leader Mark Parnell also criticised some of the Liberal how to vote material because he believed it was printed to look like it was being distributed by his party.
“It uses almost the same colour green as our materials. Some people might think it’s an official Greens flyer,” he said.
“Clearly there needs to be more reform of the electoral laws to stop parties handing out flyers that could mislead.”