Interview with Stacey Lee, FIVEAA Afternoons
STACEY LEE, HOST: Our final instalment of the AA’s on FIVEAA ahead of tomorrow's state election. Good afternoon to you, Amanda Rishworth, Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Hello.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Good afternoon. Great to be with you on this election eve.
STACEY LEE: And good afternoon to you, Senator Anne Ruston, Shadow Minister for Health.
ANNE RUSTON, SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks for having me.
STACEY LEE: It feels like this could be a bit of an anti-climax in terms of the result – but it feels like a lot of people have already voted. I just got the latest figure from the Electoral Commission. Nearly 400,000 people have voted, which is almost a quarter of the total people enrolled to vote in South Australia. That's the biggest number we've ever seen. Minister, I might start with you, Amanda Rishworth. Do you think pre-polls have an impact on the outcome of an election anymore?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well look, I do think that it's a trend that's been happening at federal elections and state elections that people are voting earlier. It's been confined to one week both in the state and the federal elections, so a lot of people have things to do. They've got kids' sport, maybe they’re working or they just want to miss the perception of lines. So, people have been going in early, but we've seen this trend happening over a really long period of time. In terms of the impact, I don't think it has too much of an impact. I think people go when they've made up their mind and they're ready to vote. But it is a really important thing to allow people to vote, particularly as postal votes now take lot longer to post, etcetera.
STACEY LEE: What about you, Anne Ruston? I feel like the general consensus used to be that if you were going early to vote, it was that you had made up your mind and maybe you were wanting change. Is that still the case?
ANNE RUSTON: Well, I think certainly, anecdotal evidence suggests that people who vote earlier usually have got a much clearer idea about how they want to vote and who they want to vote for, which often means that sometimes that your pre-poll booths show a different distribution of votes than, perhaps, on election day. But I think, you know, as Amanda says, this is a trend that we've seen shifting for a very long time, that more and more people are seeking to vote before election day itself. So, I don't think it actually has any impact on the outcome of the election but it certainly requires a change in the way that you campaign. And I think parties need to make sure that they're getting their messages out clearly, they've got to be out a lot earlier. Because there's no point making announcements after the pre-polls started because so many people would have already voted. So, I think the big difference is how you campaign, more so than, necessarily, the election outcome.
STACEY LEE: Yeah. And we did see a lot of the big election commitment announcements made early on in the campaign, I think. It always then strikes me as interesting and potentially not surprising that both parties released their costings in the final days. Both of them released them yesterday, Labor and Liberal. I think both parties have said that they're going to pay for their election commitments by targeting the public service, non-frontline public sector jobs. Do we think that the costings should be released earlier? I mean, I probably have a different view to both of you on this because I think that the public should have everything in front of them before they vote. And given we're now seeing such a huge number of people voting early, I don't think it would hurt to have the costings out earlier. But Anne Ruston, do you disagree with me?
ANNE RUSTON: Well, I mean, obviously before you put out your absolute final costings, which are all the costings for all the measures that you're proposing through an election campaign, you've got to have released all those measures. So, of course, you can't release your final costings until you have done that. But I think it's very, very important that when you actually make an announcement, you're very clear about the cost of that announcement and, you know, what the savings are that you are intending to put against that if you are intending to offset those measures.
But I think the more information that you can give to the public and the earlier you can give that information to the public, I think is a very respectful thing to do so that South Australians, when they go to the polls, have got the information that they need to make a decision. So, I would absolutely support releasing costings as early as possible, but understanding in that context there are constraints that you can't release costings until you've all of your policy suite.
STACEY LEE: Yeah, I guess that makes sense. And this time around it feels like both parties - well, and even according to their costings - are spending big on the election commitments. Libs are spending $3.4 billion, they say, and that'll be offset by those targets to non-frontline public sector jobs. Labor spending $2.2 billion, and they say that they'll add $750 million or so to state debt to pay for it. Amanda Rishworth, when we get to numbers this big, and both of you are in the Federal Parliament so the numbers there are even bigger, do you think it just kind of washes over? Do people take note of numbers like that? And do you hear people on the polling booth, when you're handing out how-to-vote cards, asking about state debt? Or is it more about the commitments that are being promised?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, I have to say, obviously the costings matter in the sense of showing that you are responsible and have some plan of how you're going to pay for it. But I would say, and, you know, to give credit to both major parties, they have put the costings out. We have One Nation where their leader was asked yesterday about costings and she got angry. So, I don't think that's the right response. I think actually having information out there is important. But it is, of course, also as you sort of identified, when you’re out there, Stacey, people want to engage in the specific policies, the quality of the spend. You know, is it going to the right places and is it going to make a difference to whether it's the individual voter's life or their family? And so, I think it really does, the engagement on both the macro element, but of course, what are the priorities? Because that's ultimately what's covered in the costings, and the policies, what are our priorities. And I think that people do engage very much in the priorities. But you do need to show a plan. You do need to have a policy, and then how you're going to implement and pay for that plan. And that's why, you know, putting out these costings are really important.
STACEY LEE: What are you both hearing from the booths? Have you been out handing out how-to-vote cards? I might start with you, Senator Anne Ruston. What are people stopping you to talk to you about?
ANNE RUSTON: Look, I've been on a lot of polling booths over the last few days. It's been fantastic getting out there and actually listening to what, you know, the average Australian voter is thinking is important. I think there are probably two things that have come out of this. I think people are feeling great uncertainty - uncertainty about what's happening in the Middle East, uncertainty about the constant increases and the inflationary impact on, you know, what their spending power is and their standards of living. They're incredibly worried about that. And I think that's probably why we're seeing quite a lot of angry voters, because they're really frustrated about the turn in their life over the last few years under the current government. The other thing that's been really positive for me and my party has been the incredibly positive feedback I've received about Ashton Hurn. You know, for us, she has been an absolute star performer in this campaign, and I've been really quite, you know, pleasantly surprised at just how many people recognise Ashton - they see her photo at a polling booth and they're saying incredibly positive things about her. But I think the thing that is so, so clear is that Australians and South Australians are doing it really tough at the moment. They're worried about paying their bills. They're worried about getting access and affordability of healthcare. They're worried about community safety. And they're worrying about whether their kids will ever be able to afford to buy a house. And I think that's the overwhelming message that I've been receiving on the polling booth this week.
STACEY LEE: You mentioned Ashton Hurn and her popularity. I've got a text message here from Gordon(*) saying that he's very happy with her. Go Ashton, he says in the text message. And that does seem to be the general consensus that, had she had more time, more than 100 days, that potentially the Libs might, you know - and yes, it's yet to occur, we don't know how the seats and how the election will play out tomorrow, of course - but if the polling comes true, the Libs might not win too many seats. Are you confident that, depending on how many seats the Liberal Party actually wins, that they'll be able to keep Ashton Hearn as for the next four years? She told Dave and Will this morning on the Brekkie Show that she's not going anywhere and she plans to hang around for another term and keep fighting her fight. Do you think the party can unite behind her for a whole term?
ANNE RUSTON: Absolutely. You know, she is a phenomenal leader and she has proved herself in a very short space of time. She doesn't let herself get distracted. She focuses on the things that are important. I think she's shown herself to be an incredibly polished media performer because she simply says what she thinks. And everything that comes out of Ashton's mouth has been thought through by Ashton.
And I think that is a great quality in a politician, is that she instinctively knows what's important to Australians. She instinctively knows because she spends and she spent her whole life in her own community - in the Barossa. She comes off a farm. She's been an elite athlete. She brings an incredible amount of experience that she's now translating into being an incredibly effective politician. So, I am absolutely sure that Ashton will remain at the head of the Liberal Party in South Australia. And I have every confidence that, you know, should tomorrow not be the day for Ashton to become the Premier of South Australia I think you're very likely to see, in four years' time, that she will become the next Premier of South Australia. Because I think she is one of the most incredibly talented and genuine politicians that I've ever seen.
STACEY LEE: Amanda Rishworth, I might come to you about what you're hearing on the polling booths. Have you spent much time this week handing out how-to-vote cards anywhere? And what are you hearing from voters is their main concern?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Yeah look, well, I have spoken with people and, of course, we're going to hear different messages. But I've certainly heard firstly that, you know, a lot of confidence in the Premier of South Australia, that he's done really good things for South Australia and that, really, a sense of pride about being a South Australian. And so certainly the feeling that the state is moving again and that it's starting to pick up, where it had been left in the doldrums a bit, and actually get it moving again. And, you know, some of the other things I've been hearing is about the Premier's focus on both short-term but long-term vision. You know, whether it's focused on housing, whether it's on jobs, whether it's on thriving as an economic powerhouse, people, you know, like the direction that South Australia's going. So, at the same time the Premier's been talking about how to help people with cost of living right now, and I get a sense there is a lot of confidence in what the Premier has done and that people do want to see more of that.
STACEY LEE: Okay. So, are you willing to make a prediction, Minister?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, it's too dangerous to make a prediction. Anything can happen and I know the Premier has said he is not taking anything for granted - but, you know, I think that there will be a strong performance for the Labor Party tomorrow.
STACEY LEE: Okay. Anne Ruston, are you willing to make a prediction?
ANNE RUSTON: No, I've never done that before. I'm not going to start doing it now - that's fraught with danger. But as I said, I just think that the star performance of this election campaign has been our Ashton Hurn and I hope she gets the reward tomorrow that she deserves for such an incredible campaign. But it's been great to spend these last months’ having a chat on Friday afternoon with both you and Amanda. And so, all I can say is break a leg for tomorrow and we'll see you on the other side.
STACEY LEE: Thank you. Thank you both as well. And yes, all the best to both of you. Not being political here, being right in the centre, all the best to both of you for tomorrow. And I appreciate your time in talking to us over the last month or so for the campaign and, hopefully, it's not the last.