Mitcham mayor Heather Holmes-Ross to run against Sam Duluk, throwing race for Waite into chaos

The mayor of Mitcham will take on scandal-plagued independent MP Sam Duluk in Waite, creating the prospect of a fascinating three-way race for a must-win Liberal seat.

Mitcham mayor Heather Holmes-Ross will run as an independent candidate for Waite at the March state election, throwing the race for the seat into disarray.

The wildcard entry by the well-known Adelaide Hills caterer erects a further obstacle to the Liberal Party’s plans to wrest the seat from the ex-Liberal and now independent MP Sam Duluk.

It comes as the Liberals grapple with vetting and preselecting their own endorsed candidate for the seat, with the vote yet again postponed until next weekend.

On paper a safe Liberal seat on a 7.4 per cent margin, Waite is a must-hold seat for Premier Steven Marshall’s hopes of winning the March 19 state election outright, or as a minority government.

“I think we have been a forgotten seat,” Dr Holmes-Ross told the Sunday Mail.

“Because we have been quite a safe Liberal seat … seats like that get taken for granted.”

While Dr Holmes-Ross said she got on well with Mr Duluk in her role as mayor, she gave a withering assessment of his status as a true independent.

“He was elected as a Liberal, a functioning Liberal within the Liberal Party, but over the last two and a half years he’s been unable to function as a Liberal or as an independent,” she said. “So what you voted for isn’t what you got.”

Mitcham mayor Heather Holmes-Ross wants to enter state politics. Picture: Dean Martin

Mr Duluk left the Liberal Party on September 9 after being acquitted on August 24 of assaulting SA Best MP Connie Bonaros with a slap on the bottom at a boozy 2019 Christmas party in parliament house.

But he will campaign with the baggage of being described as a “drunken pest” by the magistrate and being accused under parliamentary privilege by Greens MP Tammy Franks of sexual harassment, racism and homophobia at the party.

Mr Duluk rejected Ms Franks’ accusations as “salacious and designed to cause maximum political damage”.

Dr Holmes-Ross, who has a PhD in molecular science, said she would campaign on “real action on climate change”, helping small business, particularly those hit hard by Covid-19 restrictions, and “parliamentary transparency”.

She and her husband John, who now runs a games cafe in the CBD, closed their Artisan Cafe in Blackwood last year, in part due to the Covid downturn.

MP Sam Duluk outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court, where he faced a charge of assault against a parliamentary colleague. Mr Duluk was found not guilty of the charge in September. Picture: David Mariuz

On how she would handle the so-called “pizza clause” – Labor formed minority government over pizza with Frome independent Geoff Brock in 2014 – she said there would be “incredible power in the crossbench, so depending what’s on offer (for her policies) I would make a decision at the time”.

“I’m happy to talk with whoever over whatever type of pizza, my favourite being Mexicana,” she said.

Dr Holmes-Ross, who once letterboxed for the Democrats, was an ALP member in the early 90s – “I joined because of a boy” – but let her membership lapse.

She plans to stay on as mayor.

Potential Waite Liberal candidates include Adelaide city councillor Alex Hyde and Mitcham councillor Adriana Christopolous.

The new boundaries of Waite sit completely inside the Mitcham Council boundaries, crucially including the Adelaide Hills where Dr Holmes-Ross pulled a 40 per cent voter turnout from a cold start to topple sitting mayor Glenn Spear in 2018.

Around 17,000 of Waite’s 27,000 voters live in the Hills.