Off the Record: Divided SA Libs fight over plum Senate spot
This week in Off the Record – divided state Liberals go to war over a plum Senate spot, Steven Marshall and Peter Malinauskas at odds over proposed debate and a very odd photograph.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
In this week’s Off the Record – divided state Liberals fighting over a plum Senate spot, Steven Marshall and Peter Malinauskas at odds over proposed debate and a very odd photograph.
To the right, quick march
LOYALTIES are being tested in the ascendant conservative wing of the SA Liberal Party, as a showdown for a plum Senate spot enters its final phase.
Maverick Upper House President Andrew McLachlan, who shot to prominence by voting against his own party on anti-bikie laws, and is pictured here packing heat on tour in Afghanistan in 2010, is in battle for the post with conservative Morry Bailes, a prominent lawyer. They are fighting for the seat, officially vacated this week by Liberal-turned-independent Cory Bernardi.
Bailes is pulling support from firebrand conservatives including Barker MP Tony Pasin. Boothby MP Nicolle Flint has also written to pre-selectors urging a vote for Bailes.
The unaligned McLachlan has become the candidate of convenience for a moderate faction run by the likes of former defence minister Christopher Pyne and his successor as Sturt MP James Stevens.
The conservatives have recently surged in internal party battles, taking over important executive positions.
And while insiders on both sides say the race is much too close to call, McLachlan is picking up significant endorsements from some on the right.
Mount Barker MP Dan Cregan, a fellow floor-crosser who broke with his own party on mining legislation, has gone on the record with Off the Record to back McLachlan.
With fellow right-wing MP Sam Duluk’s ministerial aspirations stunted by claims of a boozy Parliament House Christmas Party, the bookish Cregan is seen as an increasingly powerful force on the right.
“Andrew has always been a strong supporter of the Hills community and myself,” Cregan said. “We also deeply respect his service in Afghanistan.”
Either way, the conservatives are poised for an eventual win.
If Bailes misses the Senate, loyal right-winger Nicola Centofanti is said to have a “mortal lock” on the next race to replace McLachlan in state parliament.
Hard to find a date these days
AT the tail end of last year, Off the Record previewed the potential grudge match of 2020.
The SA Press Club invited Premier Steven Marshall and Labor leader Peter Malinauskas to debate each other to mark the halfway point of the electoral cycle. Two years since the last election, two years until the next one.
The Press Club proposed the debate be held on March 19 or 20.
Since the, despite much to-ing and fro-ing, no date has been settled on.
The Premier’s people have proposed it be held on March 11, but the opposition aren’t keen on that date.
Malinauskas is giving a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on March 12 and the noise from a March 11 debate would drown out anything he had to say the following day.
In return, Malinauskas office has offered another 50 dates that the Opposition leader is available, stretching from March 16 to June 29.
The line from Marshall’s office is that they are “still working towards a date’’.
Productive move
The state’s Productivity Commission has a new member.
Edwina Cornish was named this week as its latest part-time commissioner.
Cornish is a highly respected biotechnologist, a director of the CSIRO and a member of the Australian Research Council. She was a deputy vice-chancellor at Adelaide uni for three years before switching to Monash University in Victoria.
The commission was established by the state Liberal government and its commissioners include public policy expert Matthew Butlin, who is chairs, high-profile Adelaide lawyer Adrian Tembel and economist Christopher Findlay.
Fire alert
FORMER premier Jay Weatherill may soon be having some interesting discussions with his new boss, the mining magnate Andrew Forrest. Weatherill is a long-time believer in climate change, but it seems Forrest is not quite so convinced.
This week he claimed “fuel load’’ had the greatest impact on bushfires and said climate “science has to far to go’’ .
Forrest injected $70 million into his foundation for bushfire relief, part of which will fund new research into climate science.
Whacked
SURE, it’s only January, but if Off the Record finds an odder picture in 2020, then it will be warmly welcomed.
Liberal backbencher Paula Luethen visited Uleybury school museum at One Tree Hill.
It has all the old school stuff – slates for writing on, ink wells and, from the days when you could beat students, a cane.
Perhaps the site of the cane brought back memories for Luethen, as she posed for some punishment in the classroom.
Maybe she could recommend it to Speaker Vincent Tarzia as a way to keep unruly MPs in line.
On the move
THE changing of the guard at the Legal Services Commission became official this week.
Lipman Karas principal Jason Karas has taken over from the eminent Michael Abbott as the organisation’s chairman.
Abbott had been in the seat since December 2013 and Karas is taking over as the LSC celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said Karas’s experience in managing a large firm will assist the LSC which delivers more than 100,000 “legal assistance services’’ a year.