Think local, spend global

Every election, voters’ social media feeds, inboxes and of course letterboxes are bombarded with party-funded material urging you to vote for one side or other.

While most electors might consider this an annoyance, it’s at least paid for by the respective parties, which are entitled to spend their hard-raised funds as they see fit.

But in amongst it, they’ll also find official-looking anonymous envelopes purporting to provide “important Postal Vote information for the 2022 State Election”.

The extent to which this informs the average voter about how to lodge such a vote – as opposed to for whom it should be lodged – is, unsurprisingly, questionable.

Liberal MPs, including those in vulnerable marginals, have sent voters letters containing a QR code, which when activated takes the reader to the electoral commission’s website.

The rest of the A4 letter, though, is given over to “a message from the Premier”, in which Steven Marshall waxes lyrical about delivering “real change through more jobs, lower costs and better services”.

“The March State Election will be about your future,” he emphasises, arguing voters have a choice between “strong Liberal leadership” or “the same Labor team who we believe drove our economy into the ground and cut hospital services” (our italics, not the Premier’s).

Yes, thank you for that helpful Postal Vote information, Steven.

Of course, it’s not a practice confined to either side.

Prospective postal voters in the Labor heartland seat of West Torrens, for instance, are treated to frontbencher Tom Koutsantonis detailing a list of ALP election commitments, while railing against “the Marshall Government’s decision to deliberately allow Covid-19 into South Australia unprepared [which] has had many consequences that have left our citizens and state vulnerable”.

He seamlessly segues: “The confusion and unpreparedness surrounding what measures will be put in place [for polling day] has prompted me to send you a postal vote application to ensure your voice is heard.”

Um… thanks?

Mind you, the bipartisan practice is one – paid for by taxpayers – broadly allowed under parliament’s Global Allowance Entitlement.

And by broadly, we do mean broadly.

The allowance guidelines helpfully include a list of “expenditure specifically excluded from funding against the Global Allowance”, which stipulates it cannot be spent on “election expenses, other than Postal Vote Applications”.

Of course, it would be generous to suggest there is no electioneering going on here.

Even retiring Treasurer Rob Lucas is making the most of his incumbency, hitting up mailboxes in various seats spruiking the Government’s “tireless” work and railing against Labor taking SA down “the wrong path”.

Asked whether he thought the whole concept of taxpayer-funded postal voting info was being cynically exploited by both sides of politics, Lucas said: “Well, no, I’m not going to agree to that… that may be your interpretation.”

“I’d be saying it complies with the guidelines,” he added.

“It’s providing information in relation to postal voting.”

Of course, for the practice to stop, you’d need someone to complain about it – and that seems unlikely.

Koutsantonis, the manager of Opposition Business, tells us: “I think it’s entirely appropriate for local members of parliament to talk about what successes they’ve had and what their plans are for the future.”

“They can’t advocate or ask for a vote,” he insists.

“I think it’s an appropriate use of the global allowance.”

But not everyone agrees, with one party insider telling InDaily that “the budget to drop this in every letterbox in a state district at taxpayers’ expense is greater than the [entire] campaign budget of most challengers”.

So much for a level playing field. 

Taking care of business

Labor is, however, complaining about another apparent breach, after the state Department of Trade and Investment today issued an exuberant tweet linking to a News Corp puff piece about new federal funding for an airport-based Space Park.

Labor’s own social media account deemed the endorsement “a breach of caretaker conventions”, pointing to the guidelines stipulating that “agencies should review their websites and social media presence at the beginning of the caretaker period to ensure they cannot be interpreted as promoting the Government” of the day.

Labor leader Peter Malinauskas’s office also fired off an angry missive to Department boss Leonie Muldoon, arguing that “promoting this story is a clear breach of caretaker conventions”.

It must have done the trick because the tweet was deleted a short time later.

Labor had less success, however, seeking Electoral Commission intervention over Liberal advertising linking the now-Opposition Leader to the 2017 Repat Hospital closure – which the commissioner determined was not inaccurate or misleading “to a material extent” when read “in their full context”.

Voice of the faceless

Labor state secretary and now Upper House candidate Reggie Martin is sometimes described as a “faceless man”, that term dating back to the Calwell/Menzies era to deride the backroom factional machinations of the ALP.

However, while his face may not yet be familiar to voters, some may unwittingly have copped an earful of his voice of late.

Martin is moonlighting as the voiceover guy you may have heard introducing “a message from [Labor leader] Peter Malinauskas” on the party’s radio ads.

Labor state secretary and occasional voiceover fill-in Reggie Martin. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily

Given recent attacks on the Opposition’s big-spending pledges, Martin might at least argue the ‘all hands on deck’ approach to campaigning at least shows a commitment to thrift.

Home is where the heart is

Curious residents of the Labor-held southern suburbs seat of Hurtle Vale might have been somewhat taken aback if they were inclined to find out more about their local Liberal candidate, Nick Robins, last week.

The bio for the Libs’ pick for the seat, which takes in the likes of Hackham, Onkaparinga Hills, and Woodcroft, started somewhat dubiously: “Living and working in the Northern Suburbs, Nicholas is an enthusiastic Secondary Teacher and is passionate about engaging students in STEM and their local community.”

Sure, a laudable CV, but maybe highlighting your northern suburbs pedigree isn’t something that would play so well down south?

NORTHERN EXPOSURE? Lib candidate Nick Robins.

But it went on: “Nicholas is a strong believer in serving the local community and is an active member of the Lions Club of Angle Vale.”

As it turned out, Robins’ profile appeared to have been inadvertently switched with that of Nicholas Charles, the Libs’ candidate for Ramsay.

Fortunately, someone at Lib HQ noticed the ‘snafu’, and the bios are now safely back with their rightful candidates.

Campaign Diary will be a regular feature in the lead-up to the election, taking you to all corners of the campaign.