I had it in mind a few weeks ago to ask if any SA and Tassie based readers wanted to provide guest commentary on the elections there, but I guess I left it too late. However, if anyone has any commentary or reports they’d like to share, please feel free to post here. There’s a bit of context on the SA poll at APO, and regular commentary on both campaigns at The Poll Bludger.
LP readers resident in SA might also be inclined to participate in Online Opinion’s web based research.
I’m so embarrassed by the apparently total lack of interest in my own state elections that I feel I must say something here, but the SA election at least seems set fair to be a fizzer. General consensus is that Labor will romp in with an increased majority resulting in a much more stable government, one that will no longer rely on Independents and be obliged to do them favours. That said, it will be a test of Mike Rann (if he wins, of course) to see how he treats the conservative-leaning Independents Karlene Maywald and Bob Such once he no longer needs their support.
One very tacky tactic Labor got up to, publicised yesterday, was a TV ad featuring the dredged-up tape of an old interview with the affable but ineffectual Leader of the Opposition, Rob Kerin, who when asked why he wanted to be leader stumbled and bumbled and couldn’t give an answer. This ad got a bit of publicity yesterday when Kerin called it gutter politics and Rann somewhat uncertainly and defensively, erm, defended it.
Who knows what was behind Kerin’s unfortunate performance on the day — maybe he really didn’t know the answer — but it’s a cheap and completely unnecessary ad hominem (as it were) attack on a man universally perceived in SA as a nice-ish sort of a bloke, and it can’t do Labor anything but harm along backlash lines. If they’ve got any brains they’ll take it straight off the air and chuck it in the bin.
The outcome of these two elections affect all Australians so ….. where is everyone?