Labor heading for federal election clean sweep in metropolitan Adelaide seats
Labor is poised to win all seven metropolitan Adelaide federal seats with a campaign boosted by “potent political weapon”, Premier Peter Malinauskas.
SA News
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A campaign boosted by “potent political weapon” Premier Peter Malinauskas has put Labor within grasp of a history-making clean sweep of Adelaide federal seats.
The Liberal stronghold of Sturt, in eastern Adelaide, is projected to fall to Labor for the first time since 1972 by a YouGov poll.
Sturt is among 11 seats YouGov projects will change hands from the 2022 election results – the only one in South Australia – meaning Labor would hold all seven metropolitan Adelaide federal electorates.
This would be the first Labor clean sweep in Adelaide of the Liberal Party, which was founded in 1944 and first contested a federal election in 1946.
Boothby, which was Liberal-held from 1949 until it was snared by Labor in 2022, is projected by YouGov to remain in ALP hands.
Mr Malinauskas campaigned alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday afternoon in Boothby, at Tonsley TAFE.
Boothby MP Louise Miller-Frost, who holds the seat with a 3.3 per cent margin, chose Mr Malinauskas for her campaign flyers ahead of Mr Albanese.
A director of pollster RedBridge, Tony Barry said Mr Malinauskas “remains a potent political weapon for the Labor brand”.
Asked about Sturt, Mr Barry was less conclusive than rival pollster YouGov but said Liberal incumbent James Stevens had “high net favourability numbers and a strong re-elect figure so we expect him to add to the party vote”.
University of Adelaide emeritus professor in politics Clement Macintyre said Mr Albanese had tried to leverage the popularity of Mr Malinauskas and his Western Australian counterpart, Roger Cook, in their respective states.
“I think it’s fair to say, together with perhaps Roger Cook in Western Australia, his standing in his own state, is as strong as anyone’s, and shows no sign of diminishing,” he said.
”Labor’s trying to capitalise on its assets and use them to maximum effect and there is no doubt that Peter Malinauskas is one of its principal assets in South Australia.”
Professor Macintyre said this was in stark contrast to Victoria, where the Coalition hopes to capitalise on an unpopular ALP state government.
He said Labor holding all seven Adelaide federal seats would be unprecedented in the modern era.
“For one party in the modern age to dominate all the metropolitan seats in the capital city is certainly a remarkable achievement,” Professor Macintyre said
“But we’ve got to remember that the South Australian division of the Liberal Party has underperformed when compared to branches of the party in other parts of Australia.”
Since the Playford Liberal and Country League state government lost office in 1965 – 60 years ago – the Liberals have held power for only about a third of that time.
“That’s the least successful performance of a major party in any of the nine jurisdictions in Australia,” he said.
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Originally published as Labor heading for federal election clean sweep in metropolitan Adelaide seats
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