It’s Election Day #savotes! Full moon overnight and turned the radio on to find ‘living on a prayer’ playing - good sign. Already hearing reports of aggressive security guards guarding booths covered early in Liberal signage overnight. It’s going to be a long day. Follow here👇🏻
On my way to my booth, helping mum @KayRollison and @catrollison set up a booth in Dunstan. The booth is St Peters - where I grew up. A supposably safe Lib seat held by Premier Marshall. My friend @CressidaOHanlon has had a huge crack at it - watch this seat! Got a good feeling.
I’m all set up at the booth in marginal Elder - Ascot Park. Candidate in Elder is the amazing Nadia Clancy who has been campaigning > 2 years. It’s a must win seat. Exciting vibe. Also a shared booth with Labor MP Jayne Stinson. There are wonderful Labor women everywhere today.
Just met an ambo. If you haven’t been following SA election, you’ll have missed that we’re in the midst of an ambulance crisis - people are dying waiting over an hour for ambulances. It’s really scary. It’s heroes like this we rely on and we need them to be resourced properly!
There seems to be debate going on about whether volunteers at booths should be wearing masks. Voters have to. Everyone at my booth is. Here’s Liberal Federal MP for Sturt - James Stevens - handing out for Marshall in Dunstan without a mask. Liberals never took covid seriously 😷
Just heard something weird. Apparently @SAElectoralCom have told people in seat of King they can’t park their chalked cars near the booth. Chalk is in support of ambos who were ordered to remove chalk from ambulances. This ruling is way outside ECSA’a remit - private vehicles!
State of play for this election is Labor needs to flip 5 seats to win govt. Huge ask. The polls are suggesting a swing, but we know polls can be inaccurate and also the swing has to happen in just the right places! Marginal seats to watch are King, Adelaide, Elder and Newland.
Another seat to watch is Davenport. It is currently held by a Lib MMAM (mediocre middle aged man) who is so boring I can’t remember his name. Margin of 9%. Erin Thompson is local mayor and has worked tirelessly on this campaign - it’s hilly so that’s extra work! Could be wildcard
This afternoon I’m going to be volunteering for Rhiannon Pearce in ultra marginal King. Another must win seat with an incredible Labor woman! I got to know Rhi through Labor Women Network and she’s the real deal. Smart, confident and kind ❤️ So hope she wins King!
Ummm, not sure about this one. If someone could explain 🧐
Speaking of Labor leader Peter Malinauskas, just want to say how impressive his campaign has been. I knew Pete when we went to Adelaide Uni together (typical Adelaide) and he’s always seemed like a future Premier - even back then. Wish him all the best today!
Another seat to watch is Gibson. Held on a solid 10% by Liberal Corey Wingard, but Labor’s Sarah Andrews is making him work for it! Very proud to have helped campaign for Sarah - a great unionist and feminist. Another seat to watch - go you good thing!
On the running theme of Labor’s amazing candidates, another Labor Woman Network friend I’m so proud of for her tireless campaign in my home seat of Adelaide is Lucy Hood. On a mission to flip a couple of hundred votes, been happy to help (with my daughter Lottie!). Go @LucyHood!
You might think I’ve run out of seats to watch which also have amazing female candidates but I’m still going! The most marginal seat in the state is Newland. Great to have a young-gun Olivia Savvas showing how it’s done. Labor needs this seat to win government.
Still going with key seats! Catherine Hutchesson in Waite has been leading a grassroots charge to flip seat to Labor for first time in decades. Again big margin but some weird stuff going on with ex-Lib turned independent Sam Duluk (‘drunken pest’) running against Libs. Go Cathy!
Ok, so it’s 3pm. Three hours left. I would love to be able to give you an insight into the on-the-ground ‘vibe’ but it’s just impossible to tell. I’ve done this too many times to think anything can be deciphered from poker faced voters walking into booths. Anything could happen!
Just heard there are six Liberal volunteers handing out HTVs for Marshall in Kensington - overkill. Doesn’t get bluer than Kensington. Apparently they’ve flown in from Victorian Liberals to help out. Suggests the Premier is feeling at least a little stressed in his own seat? 🧐
And that’s a wrap. Polls are closed. Time for a drink and then incessant refreshing of 👇🏻 abc.net.au/news/elections…
Having a well earned beer with @JamesDimasWKYZ who has been awake for 22 hours! 😂
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Lots of people are discussing Labor’s victory in SA and analysing what went right for Labor and what went wrong for Liberals. Here are my thoughts as someone ‘on the ground’. A thread👇🏻
Labor’s campaign started almost immediately after they lost government. Peter Malinauskas and all Labor MPs did a ‘Labor listening’ tour, visiting each electorate to meet voters and find out what they want from government.
Labor also worked hard on policy development and made huge commitments a long way out from the election. These commitments weren’t just released via media and then forgotten about. Each had a dedicated campaign.
I’m live tweeting @TamePunk and @BrittHiggins_#NPC address. This is going to be a historically important speech, even if Morrison thinks it’s not significant enough to attend. Follow along here👇🏻
Laura Tingle introduces Grace and Brittany to huge cheers from audience 🙌🏻. Brittany starts by saying she was raped on a couch in what she thought was the most secure, safe building in Australia - Parliament House. If she can be raped there, it can happen to women anywhere.
Brittany says she decided to speak out - despite abuse and criticism she receives - because she wants change. She wants to make it easier for women to share stories of abuse when they see other women making change like she is trying to do. But she says too little has changed.
The South Australian border opening in November has caused more heartbreak, health and economic devastation, than Western Australian border remaining closed. I am so sick of trying to convince people to stop opposing health restrictions which SAVE LIVES! It’s called priorities.
Ask South Australians which they’d prefer. To be watching community suffer covid in their thousands, hospital system imploding, their lives completely upended by constant worry and anxiety, businesses suffering and people dying, or not being able to host visitors? Choose one.
We lived a life of freedom in SA for almost entire pandemic. We had the national lockdown and then a couple of short ones, and this amazing privilege was due to borders being closed to covid. That was such a gift, such an incredible privilege. And we threw it away. WA are SMART.
Labor is tasked with addressing 8 years of Lib climate inaction to reach net zero by 2050. 43% by 2030 is extensively modelled. It’s achievable, not fantasy. Libs say it’s too much, Greens say it’s not enough. But we knew they’d say that. Reality is, we need ACTION, not wedging.
RIP my mentions. Say what you like, you’re not going to convince me that making Labor unelectable is a good idea for the climate catastrophe. If you didn’t learn anything from the 2010 CPRS debate, you’ll never learn 🤷🏼♀️
And if you want to know my personal view, I would have preferred 45%. I don’t know why it’s 43% instead. But I’m not going to war over 2% because that would be entirely self-defeating. Facts are facts. Only Labor can and will take EXTREMELY OVERDUE climate action. It’s urgent.
The reporting of covid restrictions throughout pandemic - border closures, lockdowns, face masks - every covid health policy, has shown journalists are incapable of describing the ideological context behind decisions, while also ignoring their own ideological bias . A thread👇🏻
Firstly, there’s a reason journalists ignore ideological context when reporting political decision making. They’ve been taught/believe any mention of ideology is akin to taking an ideological position themselves. So they never go deep in their analysis, but instead are shallow.
Journalists have also been taught that to be objective and balanced, they just have to quote ‘both sides’ and public decides what they think is best. But quoting ‘open up’ versus ‘keep borders closed’ provides no context to these ideological views, so isn’t helpful to audience.
If you think Gladys Berejiklian did a ‘good job’ of managing covid but are at the same time calling on Daniel Andrews to resign because he has done a ‘bad job’, you are a partisan hack.
And further to this, if you think Gladys Berejiklian slowly and reluctantly bringing in health restrictions kicking and screaming, often too late, is good management, and yet you call those same restrictions evidence of ‘Dictator Dan’ in Victoria, you are also a partisan hack.
Also, if you call Victorians supporting Andrews’ leadership during pandemic ‘Dan Stans’ and accuse them of having ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, but in NSW think it’s totally normal to oppose ICAC when Berejiklian has to resign because of ICAC investigation, you’re a partisan hack.