Campaign Confidential: Labor unveils Hunter candidate Daniel Repacholi

With the electorate getting its first good look at Labor’s Daniel Repacholi, Campaign Confidential reflects on how facial hair and extreme height play for voters.

As the campaign heads into Easter we reflect on facial hair, the stats that matter and trust in politics.

Trivial, hirsute

Labor leader Anthony Albanese and the party’s candidate for Hunter Dan Repacholi. Picture: Toby Zerna

THE appearance on the campaign trail of Labor’s candidate for Hunter Daniel Repacholi and his magnificent Ned Kelly beard has reminded Campaign Confidential about the electoral merits – or otherwise – of facial hair. Labor’s got a slew of bearded blokes, including Ed Husic, Peter Khalil, Patrick Dodson, Tim Ayres and Tony Sheldon, but there are a few furry-faced Liberals too, including James Paterson, Rowan Ramsey and Phillip Thomson. Facial hair doesn’t seem a barrier to any of them getting elected, though it should be noted Australian male political leaders tend to keep themselves scrupulously clean-shaven, with the exception of the perma-stubbled head of the Greens, Adam Bandt. Researchers from the University of Queensland recently found women find photos of bearded men more attractive than their clean-shaven counterparts – and that effect was more pronounced among women who are considering having children. Read into that what you will.

Big men of politics

STILL on Dan Repacholi: at an imposing 202cm, the former Olympian could cast a long shadow in the corridors of power if elected to parliament. Campaign Confidential stands to be corrected, but we think that would easily make him our tallest ever parliamentarian – eclipsing even Gough Whitlam (194cm) and Peter Garrett (193cm).

The stat that swings elections

John Howard claiming victory for the Coalition in 1996.

THE release of Thursday’s unemployment figures was undoubtedly good news for the Coalition’s election prospects. History shows that Aussies tend to elect a new government when unemployment is higher. (To borrow a phrase: Google it, mate.) When we voted in Bob Hawke in 1983 the rate was 6 per cent; when we chose John Howard in 1996 it was at 5.5 per cent; and when we opted for Tony Abbott in 2013 the rate was 5.7 per cent. Labor might take some consolation from the 2007 election though, when Kevin Rudd was swept to power, he did it despite unemployment being a modest 4.3 per cent. Can Labor win with unemployment at 4 per cent? That’s the question.

Hey kids – time to get a move on

Time to get enrolling, kids. Picture: iStock

IT seems like we’re always being told how politically engaged the youth of today are, but enrolment figures suggest otherwise. With polls set to close on Monday, an Australian Electoral Commission spokesperson told Campaign Confidential that at the end of March, the proportion of 18 year olds who had enrolled to vote was 55.1 per cent, and the percentage of those aged 18-24 enrolled was 85.4 per cent. But, they say, those figures up set to go up massively over the weekend as people rush to meet the deadline. As of last week, 1.16 million Aussies had enrolled to vote since the 2019 election, and about 720,000 of those are under the age of 25. If you know a young person who’s dragging their feet on enrolment, tell them childhood is over, it’s time to grow up, and they need to log on to www.aec.gov.au pronto.

Trust turns to dust

TRUST could turn out to be the key issue of the 2022 election, according to grim-but-fascinating new research shared exclusively with Campaign Confidential. Mainstreet Insights surveyed more than 1000 Aussies during March, with 57 per cent of respondents saying their trust in the federal government has decreased in the past two years. Trust in state governments, social media and religious institutions has also dropped substantially, the survey revealed. Mainstreet Insights director Lindsay McMillan said the sudden and massive drop in trust reflected the turmoil of the pandemic and anxiety many of us feel after successive natural disasters. “The challenge for both of the major parties will be to convince voters that they are true to their word, that they can be trusted to do what they say they will do if they are voted into power,” Dr McMillan said. So … a completely new approach to politics then. Got it.

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Originally published as Campaign Confidential: Labor unveils Hunter candidate Daniel Repacholi