Boothby voters pick Premier Peter Malinauskas as best bet for Prime Minister in federal election

The Advertiser asked voters in the knife-edge federal seat of Boothby who they want as PM - Albo, Dutton ... or Mali? See the results.

We Report, Ute Decide: Seacliff’s Ginger Tomlinson. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Candidates are fiercely working the doors in one of the nation’s most tightly held electorates but it was South Australia’s Premier Peter Malinauskas - rather than the two men vying for Prime Minister - who is winning the most votes in Boothby.

As The Advertiser’s We Report, Ute Decide hits five of the state’s most critical federal seat hotspots, voters are being asked what they care about most in this federal election and who they most favour for Prime Minister.

In a snap poll, Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese scored 12 votes, Liberal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton scored 17 and despite being ineligible, Premier Peter Malinauskas scored 26 votes.

A long list of promises are being made in this prized electorate with Labor announcing funds for women’s football clubs, a freight bypass, for more beds at Flinders Medical Centre and a Flinders University healthcare plan.

Federal climate change minister Chris Bowen was in the electorate this week with Labor candidate Louise Miller-Frost who holds the seat with a 3.3 per cent margin.

He announced further solar panels being installed on housing trust home roofs and spruiking the party’s commitment to battery storage.

When The Advertiser’s ute caught up with Liberal challenger Nicolle Flint she talked about the Opposition’s plan to spend billions of dollars on road and water infrastructure to help boost housing numbers and tax breaks for new homeowners.

Ute Decide: Mark Clarke (left) from Brighton and Dave McCulloch from Somerton Park. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

She spoke about reducing migration numbers, banning overseas investors from buying homes and how nuclear power was central to the Liberal plan to tackle emissions and energy prices, the electorate promised dollars for sporting clubs and a freight bypass.

First time voter Jaiden Smith, 18, of Eden Hills, was seeing Greens advertisements pop up during online Fortnite games but was leaning toward voting for Ms Flint claiming she was most visible in the electorate.

He popped a vote into the ute’s polling boxes when it landed in the hills suburbs of Blackwood for Mr Dutton saying housing affordability was a priority.

At the Seacliff beachfront, local Ginger Tomlinson, 19, told how her first vote in a federal election on May 3 would support the Greens party followed by the Labor Party and Anthony Albanese in preferences, saying her decision was driven by environmental concerns.

A worry shared by Brighton voter Mark Clarke, 62, who wanted a stronger campaign focus on climate change alongside housing, a vote influenced by his grandchildren’s futures.

He picked Mr Malinauskas as best positioned to lead the country - as did his friend and Somerton Park voter Dave McCulloch, 65, who said it was worrying that his young adult children were facing increasing costs and struggles to find housing.

At a Colonel Light Gardens cafe, Clapham voter Neil Hendry, 68, dropped a vote in for Mr Albanese for his green energy credentials.

“I think he’s got the best environment and energy credentials, I have eight grandkids so I’m thinking 20 years into the future not three or four,” he said.

We Report, Ute Decide: Jaiden Smith of Eden Hills. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

One Blackwood voter thought Mr Malinauskas would make the best Prime Minister saying “I think he’s doing better than the other two, but with this campaign they should be talking about what they are willing to do rather than running each other down”.

While Colonel Light Gardens cafe owner Lou Rodwell, 46, picked Mr Albanese but was planning to vote for the Greens saying “I don’t feel the Liberals are good for small businesses they are good for big businesses’.

Most importantly she wanted the electorate to be engaged.

“We are super lucky to be a democracy even if we all whinge and bitch about the choice,” she said.

Ginger Tomlinson, 19, Seacliff.

First time voter Ms Tomlinson is planning to vote for the Greens party but would give Labor’s Mr Albanese preferences. Concerns about the environment are at the top of her list.

Dave McCulloch, 65, Somerton Park.

“I would go Malinauskas, he seems to deliver more than the other two.”

“There are so many issues at the moment, we’ve got young adult kids, I’m looking at their future as well, there’s cost of living, housing, energy, we are thinking about our grandchildren, they can’t get rental properties or housing.”

Mark Clarke, 62, Brighton

“I think climate change needs to be brought back into focus, they are talking about it and not focusing on it like the last election, I’m concerned about nuclear.”

Jaiden Smith, 18, Eden Hills

First time voter Jaiden Smith picked Peter Dutton as best leader after seeing more of Liberal candidate Nicolle Flint in his community.

We Report, Ute Decide: Laura Swain (left) and Michaela Cocking in Seacliff. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Michaela Cocking, in Seacliff

“Albanese one hundred per cent because I’m a nurse and the Labor Party has our backs in terms of universal health care.”

Chris Hillier, 72, Lower Mitcham

“We’ll be voting Liberal, we always have and we always will, we don’t like the spending of money we haven’t got.

“We’re more conscious of what’s happening around the world, my retirement superannuation lost $50,000 to $60,000 in a week.”

We Report, Ute Decide: Chris Hillier of Lower Mitcham and Ben Hillier of South Brighton. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Ben Hillier, 39, South Brighton

Voting Liberal around spending, saying housing was not a major issue, he has just bought a house but said rising prices were an issue, his brother bought a house for half the “well over a million dollars house” he bought for about half a million ten years ago.

Ashlee Wright, 18, Hallett Cove

Cast a vote for Mr Malinauskas but said she was “big on just making the environment OK, housing is up high and the rising cost of living”.

Olivia Angel, 19, Colonel Light Gardens

“I don’t like Albanese, I feel like he only cares about the people who work for government,” she said, adding that she would be voting for Mr Dutton.

Map of the Federal electorate of Boothby in South Australia. Picture: Australian Electoral Commission

Boothby

Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost holds this knife-edge marginal seat with 3.3 per cent.

Her challenges are the Liberal’s Nicolle Flint, Greens candidate Joanna Wells, Family First’s Samuel Prior, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’s Tonya Scott and Trumpet of Patriots’ Nicole Hussey.

This highly prized region stretches from the beachside suburbs of Seacliff and Glenelg, through Marion to blue chip southern suburbs in Mitcham and Colonel Light Gardens and the hills town of Blackwood.

There are 129,585 registered voters for the electorate named after William Boothby, SA’s Returning Officer at the first federal election in 1901.

Originally published as Boothby voters pick Premier Peter Malinauskas as best bet for Prime Minister in federal election