I'm Daniel James and you're listening to seven AM. South Australia does not usually wake up on election day at the center of the national mood. But this morning a contest that looks settled on paper is carrying a much stranger ategy. The government, led by Peter Melamowskis is expected to win comfortably. The real movement is happening elsewhere in
the noise around one nation. The protest vote in the middle of a cost of living crisis, gathering around a once marginal party, and the possibility that a state election could end up telling us something bigger about where Australian politics is heading today. Editor of In Daily Say Belinda Willis on the state election that might be a whitewash for Labor, but a warning for everyone else. It's Saturday,
March twenty one, Belinda. A lot of people are looking at South Australia as a test case for how one nation might go federally and in other states. We've seen videos of Sky News and Pauline Hanson walking the streets being formed over by fans.
Hello, this is like random?
Is that genuinely how South Australians are feeling? What's the vibe.
Well, it's an interesting one. Pauline Hanson has been here more than usual. She did come here during the federal election campaign as well. You know, it has been an interesting vibe. South Australia is in a state that normally votes one nation. We don't have a single one nation member in the Upper and Lower House.
Hello Peter, thanks, thank you very much.
Photo for you.
Thank you.
Pauline Hanson obviously has been around a long time and people recognize her.
Was there any foodage of Pauline Hanson having a pie floater? For instance?
I haven't seen having a five flater at this stage.
There has been all sorts of stunes going on here.
She did have a confrontation with the premiere at one stage leaving one of the media outlets recently, where she took him to task over some comments he'd raised recently. But I haven't seen her in a pie floater personally.
Apart from the pie floater. How much of a present says she actually had in the state herself in the leader to the vote and what are some of the things that one Nation are offering here?
Well, it is quite fascinating.
This has been an election where at times I wonder is the media helping raise the profile rather than the party itself. I guess it's very difficult in the media when you cover politics to keep people engaged, and One Nation obviously is an outlet that does grasp people's attention with some of their more out their comments that they make. So in terms of policy, it feels like there's been a transferring of the national policies. There's been a huge focus on anti migration.
The Premier of South Australia's finally revealed hebacks the immigration ponzi scheme. Yep, that's right. We haven't got enough workers today apparently, so we'll bring some in to care for the elderly, and when those workers get to old, we'll just keep bringing more and more and more.
There has been a lot of talk about the poison of the left in education institutions and how they want to stab that out.
I mean, that's the reality of what we're dealing with. We've got drag Queen story time, you've got the education.
You're referencing ects a small cohort of that. There's been a lot about that politics around the haves and the have nots, and there's a lot of people here, like people around the nation who are concerned about the rising cost of living, whether they can afford to buy a house, whether they can actually rent a.
House found it an independent property analysis group have said that if migration was cut by one hundred thousand well houses would be more affordable. In the face of everything the uniparty leadership keep telling us, they've.
Been calling labor and Liberal parties the UNI parties to sort of push that agenda even further, that they're the elite, that they're the haves, you're the have nots.
We're here to speak out for you.
The people South Australia clearly want an effective and strong voice. It's going to stick up for them after being let down by uniparty politics for far too long.
And Cory Bernardi, who's the essay leader here, also has been creating little videos on Instagram mocking Aboriginal people at various institutions around town.
We at the front of the Women's and Children's Hospital. It's an institution, but apparently it's now called the Younger Kicking Yoga. Kuka wildly sender, why why are we doing this to ourselves? No one knows where that Google Waggly center is they just know where that women's and children's hospital needs to be.
There's sort of little snippets that don't really go into any detail, but work on divisiveness and that sort of disaffected voting population.
So the usual one nation stick. Really, what have you been hearing from voters who are planning to vote for one nation? What are their reasons? Are there local issues at play here or is it similar case to elsewhere around the country where it's all bundled up in a protest vote.
I think there is a huge element of protest vote around this. Our most recent polling has shown that the areas most likely to vote for one nation are actually in the country regions or out of suburbs. We do have a labor government and a lot of people in the regions traditionally vote liberal. Our Liberal party has been in disarray. We've had a regular changing of leaders here.
Our campaign has not been helped at all by having the federal coalition emploding, and people in the country areas, a lot of people are.
Saying that they've had it. They don't feel like they're being listened to.
And there's this party that is emerging and saying, oh, we've got someone you can blame you can blame the amount of immigrants that are coming in, or you can blame the party for just pandering to the elite.
So there is an element around that.
I think, how are the major parties actually trying to head off one nation, particularly the government who was expected to be returned quite comfortably. What have they been doing to try and steiny one nation's ascent?
Well? I don't think how government really has a great deal to be concerned about in terms of being returned. We have forty seven lower House seats and they currently hold I think it's twenty nine of those, and the Liberal Party holds thirteen. There has been i think from the Labor Party and all seats campaigned that they would like to clean the place out if.
They possibly could.
I do think that both leaders of the Liberal and Labor Party have tiptoed around the issue in the early stages of the camp pain that they haven't spoken out about some of those more concerning statements and policies that One Nation have been putting forward.
Yesterday, I did hear.
Them during interviews where they were more robust and gradually have been stronger about picking apart some of those arguments that One Nation is making but they've left that run a bit late, considering we're at the polls.
Today coming up in South Australia, the Canaryan the coal mine for one nation in federal politics.
Pauline, I've got to jump in here.
This surprises me.
Right up down Street walks with a lot of politicians over the years, and you're such a polarizing figure, but you're treated like a rock star here. Everybody wants to get a photo with you every and most of them have got kind words to say.
Christ they have people are are screaming up. All they want is hope.
They seem to hope for the future.
What do you think success would look like for one Nation as the results rolling over the coming days.
Well, I guess even once it would be a success.
Really, the polls that we have been publishing are showing that there is the likelihood of definitely one Upper House seat that Corey Bernardi is likely to pick up, possibly two, maybe even three in the upper House. The lower House, it's you know, no one can really predict what will happen there. I think that success for them though, would be that their profile has raised. I think that is a good thing for them. Nationally. No matter what, everyone
seems to be talking about them. The media is talking about them a lot more than they have for years. We're talking about them the surge of oranges everywhere around the So I think that it's been a successful campaign for them no matter what.
And what's the worst coast scenario for the Liberal Party here because they're polling behind one nation correct.
Yes, that is the case at the moment. They have had a really tumultuous time. They've very shortly before the election, I think like a month out swapped to leaders again. We've had a former Liberal leader who was convicted around drug charges. He has popped up again in one of the seats. He's challenging Labor and Liberal back in his old seat in Black where he's always been very popular.
The polling is shown that there has.
Been a slight rise in awareness and support for their new leader, Ashton Hern, who has been like a dynamo really on the campaign trail. But she's had a very small runway. They could end up with single digit seats. There's another former Liberal who's standing as an independent who's facing domestic violence charges at the moment in the sup he's to standing against the Liberal member there. You know, it's going to be a fascinating day for all of
us political junkies here. I'm quite excited about seeing how it all fans out.
Yeah, we need to get a life, don't we. What about what about pre polling? Has there been a big turnout in the days before election day?
There has been? There has been.
Is it really interesting how strong that has become? Actually, you know, back in the in the olden days, you know, early days of covering politics, it would always be the big hurrah would be on the Saturday polling day. But these days people get out early. They are all out of the booths, all of the candidates are at the booths,
Their people are voting early. So I think it was only yesterday that the Labor Party released their costings for their policies, but a huge number of people would have already voted.
If one nation does manage to convert pole numbers into actual votes and seats, what do you think that means for the rest of the country Pole And could a strong result in South Australia translate federally or be rooting too much into this at this stage?
You know, that is really hard to predict.
I think what it should be doing is giving a wake up call nationally too, parties that are not addressing Australians out there who are really concerned about their futures that they feel disenfranchised and not listened to. They feel like they haven't been able to have a voice, that they can't buy a house like that has always been the Australian dream that their children, they worry about their futures.
I think it.
Should be a wake up call for the Labor Party around that, and I think that the Liberal and National Party need to get their act together. There's been quite a strong move towards the more conservative faction within the Liberal Party and I think that as a result they have lost a lot of their voters and you've seen that nationally with the Teals. We haven't got that same strength in Teal candidates here.
There will be some people.
Drifting towards the Greens, and polling has shown that between the eighteen and thirty four year range there has been quite strong polling for them. But I think we have a very popular premier here in Peter Malanaskar's our Labor premier, and he is part of the right faction in the Labor Party, So I think they've just been hoovering up that section of Liberal voters who are traditionally going to be out there at the polling boost for the Liberal Party.
The drift towards one nation is likely to sharpen as the fuel crisis starts. To buy blender and when people are under pressure, governments usually wear the blame. The Prime Minister has announced a fuel task force this week. Is that going to be enough for voters are already feeling the strain?
I don't think it'll have any impact whatsoever. We have to recognize that there's so many people out there that don't feel connected with politics, and we know as political reporters and journalists and editors that we have to work really hard to try to get buy in from our readers for stories that are particularly focused on our democracy and around politics, and it is so important. But there has been over the years, you know, that has fallen away.
There's lots of people you know that say, you know, they wouldn't vote if they didn't have to, And I think pulling together something like that around the issues around fuel isn't going to make any difference whatsoever. If you've got farmers out there who can't you know, feel their tractors and preparing for planting out on the farms or
to be able to truck their good selfwhere. And I think that overall, even more so than the impact of one nation at the moment, we do have such a vast difference between the numbers of people supporting our two major parties and that labor If it does end up like Western Australia dominating our parliament, the bigger concern that I see is that there isn't going to be that scrutiny, that there's going to be, you know, sweeping through of change and legislation that won't have that same impact and
import from the wider majority of people in the state.
Well, Blinda, it's going to be a fascinating day. Thanks for joining us and have a great day.
Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Seven Am is a daily show from Solstice Media. It's made by Adigus Bastow, Aril Richards, Chris Dngate, Crystal Kellor, Nicole Johnston, Travis Evans, Zoltanfetcho and me Daniel James. Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hergan of envelop Bodier Thanks for listening to seven AM this week. Have a great weekend.