AD-
LIB AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
CAMPAIGN EDITION
LIB
AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
AD-
AD-LIB is the quarterly publication of the south Australian young liberal movement.
Contents Editor:
Rhys Williams
Assistant Editor: Courtney Stephens
06
Victorian state election recap
By volunteers Ben Newell and Simon Cousins
09
FIsher by-election recap
By Leighton McDonald-Stuart and Henry Symons
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions expressed herein belong solely to the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor, Assistant Editor, or the South Australian Young Liberal Movement. Contributions to this edition of ADLIB are from members and friends of the SAYLM. To contribute to the next issue of ADLIB or to contact the Editor, email adlib@sayoungliberals.com. Authorised by Mr Alexander Hyde, President, SAYLM. 104 Greenhill Road, Unley, 5061. Published 17/02/2015
12
Queensland STATE ELECTION RECAP
By Alexander Scott and Nicholas Charles
15
Q&A with sam duluk mp
Get to know the new member for Davenport
18
Davenport by-election recap
By Nick Burnet
19
Liberals on campus
Robert Katsambis explains the electoral successes at Adelaide University
22
Money down the drain!
Laura Dickenson discusses illogical fees from SA Water
23
SAYLM Christmas bbq
See the highlights of our 2014 Christmas BBQ Image: Autumn Gold
Theen Moy (Source: Flickr)
From the Editor Alexander Scott and Nicholas Charles explain the circumstances they faced in Queensland, as they supported the LNP’s bid for a second term in a deteriorating political climate. For those who would also like to know more about Sam Duluk MP, the new member for Davenport, we have also included a short Q&A in this issue.
Hello again and thank you for picking up the first issue of AD-LIB for 2015!
And lastly for the Liberal Party campaign reports, Nick Burnet gives a summary of the great efforts SAYLM members and Sam Duluk’s team went to to ensure Davenport remained in safe hands.
Last but not least, Robert Katsambis gives an update on the electoral successes of Liberal students It has only been a few months since we last at Adelaide University’s student elections and Laura updated you but so much has happened during that Dickenson explains why SA Water’s annual supply time! SAYLM members have been busy on the charge puts revenue before logic. campaign hustings for the Victorian and Queensland I would also like to take this opportunity to invite State Elections as well as helping out with the Fisher you (if you haven’t already) to follow us on Twitter at and Davenport by-elections at home. @sayoungliberals and to like the ‘South Australian In this Autumn Issue of AD-LIB we hear from Young Liberal Movement’ page on Facebook some of our star campaigners as they give a summary both of which will help you stay in touch with the us of what they got up to during their respective between reading our magazine. Also know previous campaigns. issues of AD-LIB magazine can be viewed easily online by visiting www.issuu.com/sayoungliberals. Leighton McDonald-Stuart and Henry Symons give their insights into the Fisher by-election and our If you would like to get in touch with me about heartbreakingly narrow defeat. writing for or featuring in the next issue of AD-LIB, please email me at adlib@sayoungliberals.com. Ben Newell and Simon Cousins share the experiences they had traveling to Victoria with the Rhys Williams hopes of fending off a State Labor Government SAYLM Communications Director influenced by millitant unions.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
03
From The President Leighton McDonald-Stuart and Nick Burnet for the immeasurable amount of hours they put in to seeing a Liberal victory in that by-election.
The Young Liberal Movement is in many ways the arms and legs of the party when it comes to the task of campaigning and this is a job that we enthusiastically and proudly take up. In elections of every type, the Movement rolls up its sleeves and gets stuck into the task of convincing the voting public why we are the stand out choice for them when compared to the dysfunctional Labor party, or questionable independents.
Sometimes our ambitions for the party are not realised however, and the loss of Fisher was one of those times. I would like to offer my commiserations to Heidi Harris as well as the state parliamentary team, as we stand as one and bare our losses together. Again, Young Liberals played an important role in the Fisher by-election and I am immensely proud of our efforts there, and look forward to helping the Liberal party to win there at the next election.
Before the Fisher by-election, I led a team of Young Liberal campaigners in Victoria for a week as part of the Electorate Development Officer program. In these programs that are traditionally coordinated by the Federal Executive of the Young Liberal Movement, campaigners come from far and wide to do their part for the Liberal cause and this election was no exception. Our strategic and nimble team of five worked tirelessly all over Melbourne and rural This edition of our magazine, and this report too, Victoria to do our part for the party. is a celebration of the efforts of all Young Liberals involved in our extensive campaigning activities and Unfortunately, we were not enough to turn the tide is an exposition of how other Young Liberals can get and we all saw what happened there on November 29, involved and stand with us at the coalface of Liberal but I take solace in the fact that the one seat that we won party campaigning in South Australia. off the Labor party in Victoria was the seat where we spent most of our time campaigning. Our team which Over the past few months in particular, our consisted of myself, Ben Newell, Nicholas Charles, campaigning activities were as frequent and in many Simon Cousins and George Filipović-Bullock were ways more high stakes than they were at the March overjoyed to see Louise Staley elected as the member 2014 and September 2013 elections. for Ripon. Most recently, our efforts in Davenport in conjunction with the local SEC were integral in the Victory we saw in January. I would also like to take this opportunity to put on the record my congratulations to Sam Duluk MP and also offer thanks to the many Young Liberals who helped coordinate activities in the campaign. Special mentions should go to
04 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
My duties as President also saw me appointed by my federal colleagues to participate in a delegation to the International Young Democratic Union’s election monitoring program in Taiwan earlier in November last year. It was a great honour to be chosen to represent the Liberal Party of Australia at a conference with representatives from other centre-right parties
David Howard (Secretary, Young Liberal Movement of Australia), Alexander Hyde, Ben Riley (Federal President, Young Liberal Movement of Australia), Kate Young and Sandy Tanner (General Secretary, IYDU) with delegates from the Kuomintang
from around the world. While on delegation, we were attached to the Kuomintang, the natural party of Government in Taiwan and a proudly liberal democratic partycontrasting with the tyranny they fled when they left mainland China. Election monitoring is an excellent way to show alternative campaign techniques - what works and what doesn’t. I would encourage our division of the party to adopt this approach with our fellow state divisions in Australia, as I believe we still have much that we can learn from each other. While we now have some time to take a breath and a break from campaigning, the Movement never rests for long and will be participating in the New South Wales election before we start gearing up for the fight to hold government in 2016.
’Wrapping Up On Election Day’ SAYLM President Alexander Hyde and George Filipović-Bullock in Stawell.
Alexander Hyde SAYLM President
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
05
Victorian Election
Ben Newell
The 2014 Victorian state election will surely go down in history as a tragedy both for Victoria and the Liberal and National Parties. Victoria was once regarded as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the Liberal Party. Victoria was the home state of our party’s founder Sir Robert Menzies and provided the bulk of the party’s electoral power for a number of decades. Before 2014 there had not been a one-term government in Victoria since 1955 when the then Labor Government split. While in many areas South Australia and Victoria are rivals, a number of enthusiastic SA Young Liberals volunteered to put aside state differences and campaign for the re-election of the Napthine Government. A team led by SAYLM President Alex Hyde, Simon Cousins, Nicholas Charles, George Filipović-Bullock and Ben Newell drove to Melbourne to campaign in key marginal seats in the final week of the campaign. Our campaign began before dawn on the Tuesday before polling day in the outer suburban mortgage belt seat of Narre Warren North at a pre-poll booth. The Liberal candidate, Amanda Stapledon met us there as well as the ‘YL flying squad’ a group of interstate and Victorian Young Liberals. We were then asked to campaign at a local shopping centre because the Liberal candidate was barred from campaigning there. The reason we believe why the Liberal candidate was banned from campaigning at this particular shopping centre was that the Labor MP (using taxpayer’s money) had his electorate office situated within the centre. A few minutes into our visit, security shocked us by ordering us not to campaign inside or outside the
06 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
shopping centre. In a free country such as Australia, many political campaigns are based around shopping centres as it is one of the few places you can engage with a large amount of the voting public. Labor was free to campaign from their taxpayer-funded electoral office while we were not. From Narre Warren North we ventured to the nearby seat of Cranbourne which was being contested by Geoff Ablett (Gary Ablett Jr’s uncle). The YL Flying Squad then doorknocked and letterboxed the seat of Cranbourne as it had already been doorknocked by a paid army of union employees wearing fake firefighters, nurses and paramedics uniforms. Labor and the unions colluded to run the most politically devastating campaign by using fake uniforms against us since the “Your Rights At Work” campaign against WorkChoices. The unions have threatened to use the same strategy nationally against the Federal Government at the next election. The Liberal Party must use all means necessary to make sure that Labor and the unions play by the rules. The militant and criminallylinked CFMEU was extremely active in the election campaign as it was determined to defeat the Liberal Government as it had brought in strict laws to deal with illegal behaviour exhibited by some of its members on construction sites across Victoria. Later in the week we campaigned at train stations early in the morning in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs. The south-eastern suburbs along overcrowded and late train lines were the crucial seats which swung heavily away from Labor in
2010 to the Liberals. The Labor Party was punished by commuters at the 2010 election for introducing a transport ticketing system called ‘Myki’ which blew out in cost by $1.1 billion dollars and was plagued by problems. At each train station we
campaigned in marginal electorates we were always outnumbered by union employees or Labor staffers who were wearing pro-emergency services uniforms to push their anti-Liberal message. Almost every ambulance we saw in Victoria had been covered in graffiti by ambulance union members to attack the Napthine Government in the lead up to the election. The Napthine Government attempted to stop the graffiti of ambulances but the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Government created industrial relations tribunal Fair Work Australia gave it the green light. One of the highlights of the election campaign was campaigning in the seat of Ripon with Louise Staley. Ripon is based around the country towns of Ararat and Stawell and was the only seat that went from Labor to the Liberals. The country hospitality that was afforded to us in Ripon made us feel very welcome to be there. On Election Day, the local baker in Stawell was also an enthusiastic Liberal branch member who went out of his way to provide us with a full breakfast and kept us fed and hydrated throughout the day at the voting booths in
Stawell. The Liberal win was in no small part due to the National Party running a strong candidate that gave us the preferences needed to win. It is arguable that if the Nationals and the Liberals were permitted under the Coalition agreement in Victoria
to run against each other (while exchanging second preferences) more seats could have been picked up by the Coalition. A similar argument has been made that if a Family First candidate was run in the Fisher by-election enough preferences could have got us over the line. In conclusion the Liberal Party lost the election because of a lack of effective communication with the electorate and damaging issues like the pay disputes with emergency services workers were allowed to fester. The Government was also seen to have squandered a majority in both houses of parliament by being too timid to reform in the early. Labor also ran a very successful scare campaign which was largely unchallenged in voters mind before Election Day. On the upside it was great to see so many members of the SA Young Liberal Movement volunteer to fight the might of Labor and the unions. Ben Newell is a delegate to Liberal Party State Council and a member of the SAYLM.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
07
Victorian Election
SiMON COUSINS
electoral office of the incumbent member‌.We left shortly after this, not because security told us to but because there was more work to be done! After some sign-waving and letter-boxing we headed over to Cranbourne to help an old footballer woo the crowds once more and wrap up our first day in Melbourne.
L-R: Nicholas Charles, Simon Cousins, Louise Staley MP, George Filipović-Bullock and Ben Newell in Ararat.
After a hard-fought battle in the Federal Election, and then an even harder battle in the South Australian State Election, most Young Libs hung up their corfluting boots and campaign shirts to take a well-deserved rest. Some, but not all. Four eager SA Young Libs and one even more eager Pom drove across sunburnt country to help the Victorian Liberals as the sought to secure another term in government. We arrived in the dead of night, slinking in to our room for some much-needed sleep ahead of a long first day of campaigning. Our journey began in the electorate of Narre Warren North campaigning for Amanda Stapledon. A short stint handing out how-to-vote cards led to a rendezvous with our fellow interstate Young Libs, hailing from New South Wales, Queensland and the far off place known as Taswegia. Now a fully fledged EDO legion, armed and ready to fight for political dominance in suburban Melbourne. Wearing brilliant blue and yellow campaign shirts we visited the local shopping centre for some subtle political promotion masquerading as a coffee stop. However, not as subtle was our decision to parade corflutes up and down the shopping centre with a particular focus around the
08 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
Our second day saw us heading halfway home to the Town of Ararat in the seat of Ripon to support candidate Louise Staley. Letter-boxing is hard work in country town but neither this or the heat would deter us. In the end our campaign in Biggest Loser country was cut short by the manager of the local Woolworths (probably a Union rep) who would no longer permit us to hand out free shopping bags to customers. After two hard days slogging it out in marginal seats we were rewarded with the pleasure of campaigning for David Southwick in the safe seat of Caulfield. It was refreshing to have smiles and appreciation from the locals and provided a boost for the rest of the week. In tribute to our hard work so far and the need for respite before a busy election day, some downtime was in order. So we hit the town for some responsible consumption of alcohol and less than responsible participation in Karaoke. With latenight cheeseburgers in hand we returned to rest before the final battle. Election day saw the EDO split again as the SA troops marched towards Stawell to continue the fight for Ripon. After a long hard day and a long hard week the overall result was disappointing, however no one could say that SA had not done their part. Although Ripon was last, the booth at Stawell sat firmly in the blue. So as we journeyed home we relished this small victory and took with us many lessons, many memories and many new friends. Simon Cousins is a delegate to Liberal Party State Council and a member of the SAYLM.
Fisher by-election
Leighton mcdonald-Stuart
The Fisher campaign was one of the most hard fought campaigns of recent memory. An intensive ground campaign was fought by both us and the ALP as well as newcomer Dan Woodyatt, who styled himself around the independence of Dr Such.
I know that many Young Liberals put aside their free time over the election period to help out Liberal candidate Heidi Harris. From door knocking, letterboxing, corfluting and even an election rally; we were kept very busy!
It was the unfortunate passing of Dr Such that triggered this by election after holding the seat since 1989. In the end, it was some 9 votes that separated us from victory on December 6, but if anything this
Normally a campaign in SA focuses on the big issues at hand however in Fisher it was local issues that dominated the minds of voters. Roads were front and centre, as was the recent increase to the ESL. We
From the get-go, it seemed as though the ALP had a significant advantage. Their preselection revealed that they had ditched their usual choice of a party hack and chosen a prominent local and community stalwart in Nat Cook. Cook was able to effectively model herself as a dedicated community member long before we had even chosen a candidate.
Dan ‘Woody’ Woodyatt also joined the fray and quite successfully played on the strengths of Dr Such to promote himself as a natural successor. While not offering much beyond supposed independence, Woodyatt certainly galvanized locals around his cause.
contest has taught us some important lessons for the future.
The intensity of the campaign was equally surprising. From the very first day the ALP were out in huge numbers doorknocking and spreading their message. We of course quickly joined the fray. Young Libs from all over the state descended on Fisher and pounded the pavement. Our success in delivering our message possibly helped Young Labor to temporarily get over their long running factional spat and focus their efforts on the campaign at hand.
went into the campaign with a strong plan to fix local roads, including Flagstaff Rd, as well as opposing the unfair increases that Labor has made to the ESL.
Despite the loss though, we can hold our heads high. Not only did we not rely on preferences from candidates with questionable claims of independence, but we fought a hard campaign centered around an honest and achievable plan for the people of Fisher. Leighton McDonald-Stuart is the SAYLM Administration Director and an active Liberal Student.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
09
THE CAMPAIGN: SAYLM State VP Courtney Stephens, State VP Heidi Girolamo and SAYLM Development Director Erin Murray at the Fisher campaign rally
ELECTION DAY: Henry Symons handing out How-to-vote cards
010 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
ELECTION NIGHT: Steven Marshall talking with volunteers following the close of polls
Fisher by-election Henry Symons No one really ever expected us to lose the Fisher byelection. While a swing against the Liberal party seemed likely, many people across the political spectrum nonetheless predicted at least a narrow Liberal victory. It was demoralising to see the underwhelming numbers roll in on the evening of December 6th, and heartbreaking to learn, some days later,
politics, perceptions often trump realities. We failed to call Labor out on this. The vague fear of a future
economic depression in South Australia outweighed
the electorate’s dissatisfaction with Labor’s ESL hike. There were also smaller, secondary factors
In the aftermath of such crushing defeat, it is
at play. Labor endorsed an excellent candidate in Nat Cooke. Cooke is likeable, personable, and has aremarkable story to tell as founder of the Sammy D
that led us to lose in Fisher. Ultimately, the key factor was the unpopularity of the Federal Coalition and the ability of the Labor party to exploit that.
Liberal party. This sort of undisciplined attack on 4,000 skilled SA workers was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. By election day on December
that we had lost by the narrowest of margins - 9 votes. imperative to analyse what went wrong, and what we can do better next time. You have to be prepared to lose in politics, so we are not entitled to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to be willing to accept constructive criticism. There are multiple dynamics
Labor did not campaign against the SA Division of the Liberal party. They ran a campaign against the
Federal Liberal party. This was - and continues to be, as demonstrated in Davenport - a ruthlessly effective strategy. Many of the ALP or Union corflutes bandied slogans such as ‘Save our Subs’ or ‘Protect your job, protect your pay’. These were disingenuous tactics, but weaponised the reservations of the electorate about the Federal Government effectively. In reality, the Commonwealth is yet to make a final decision on submarine acquisition, and the ALP has no credibility to discuss the loss of defence industry jobs. The Rudd/Gillard/Rudd Government’s decisions led to 119 defence projects being delayed, 43 being reduced in scope, and 8 cancelled altogether. Moreover, the Federal Coalition has no plans to reform the industrial relations system at present. Alas, in
foundation. This could only have further encouraged swinging voters into the Labor column. Additionally, then-Defence Minister David Johnston’s stupid, insulting remark that he wouldn’t trust the ASC to ‘build a canoe’ surely hemorrhaged votes for the
6, ALP volunteers already had corflutes displaying this remark, painting the Abbott Government as
anti-South Australia. Johnston was rightfully sacked shortly after. The final key lesson to learn from Fisher is that we should never undervalue those who volunteer for our candidates. Just one extra hour of phone canvassing or door knocking could have swung the election to us, and denied Jay Weatherill majority government. Everyone who volunteered should be proud of their efforts, and know that as hardworking footsoldiers, they are the cornerstone of any successful campaign. While a defeat such as in Fisher is depressing and demoralising, it is vital that we all continue make an effort to contribute. Henry Symons is a member of the SAYLM and law student at the University of Adelaide.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
011
Queensland Election Alexander scott I had the pleasure and privilege of being able to head to Queensland to help with their elections in January. I contacted Ben Riley, who was up in the electorate of Keppel (north of Rockhampton) and he offered for me to come up there as well. I flew up on the 16th of January for my two week jaunt in the Sunshine State and the first thing I noticed was how muggy Central Queensland is! Keppel is a real ‘tale of two cities’ – with the coastal towns fairly strong for the LNP but with the North Rockhampton area fairly dead-red Labor. We had around 50% of the electorate in North Rocky and with that area being the host to Stanwell Power Station and two large meat works, it was always going to be a hard sell up there! The member I was working with, Bruce Young, was quite well-liked on the coast. The area had recently de-amalgamated from the Rockhampton Council – something that was forced upon them by the previous Labor Government. So Bruce’s push for de-amalgamation made him reasonably popular in the area. You get a massive difference between regional and metropolitan campaigns in the media coverage. In the metropolitan campaigns the media tends to follow the Leader and maybe a few of the higher ministers. In Keppel, we had both Prime (7) and Win (9) coming to most of our pressers, which we were holding most days of the week. We were also getting good coverage on the nightly news. This added another dimension for the campaign, meaning that you needed the candidate to get out there and be
012 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
Alexander Scott on Election Day
seen by the media and have that organised by 6 a.m., but then also get the candidate out to the prepolling centre and throughout the electorate. Sadly, we didn’t win. We held the seat by 6% leading up to the election, but a combination of three main issues really hurt us in the campaign, both state-wide and locally in Keppel. First were the many interesting ‘Captain’s calls’ from the Federal Government, which hurt us, especially the knighthood on Australia Day! The second issue that came up nearly every time I spoke to someone, from young uni students to older farmers, was the outright arrogance of the
Alexander Scott handing out a how-to-vote card to Bill Shorten on Election Day
LNP throughout their tenure in power and especially the arrogance of Campbell Newman. While the LNP had to make the ‘strong choices’ that Queensland needed after a destructive Labor Government, there was no consultation with the public. It was extremely disheartening to hear voter after voter say “I like Bruce, but I can’t vote for Campbell Newman!” And the third, and in my opinion the biggest vote loser, was the ‘No Asset Sales’ campaign. This was totally run by the Unions and was a masterstroke in campaigning. They ran their ‘No Asset Sales’ campaign like a full-blown party campaign, with posters, t-shirts, how-to-vote flyers and their own setups on polling day. I witnessed plenty of people bypassing both the LNP and Labor people and going straight to the ‘No Asset Sales’ people to get their how to vote card, which was
identical to the Labor card! All of these issues combined for a 5% swing from us in the primary vote and an 11% swing in the two-party preferred vote. There are many stories from the campaign, from the people you meet, including one very drunk Irish character that made us laugh every day at pre poll, to an impromptu debate with the Labor candidate and the Federal Labor leader about the truth of health job numbers. It was an amazing time and I highly recommend any Young Liberal who is interested in seeing good government stay in and learning new ways to campaign to register your interest in helping the New South Wales team in their upcoming elections! Alexander Scott is a member of the SAYLM.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
013
Queensland Election Nicholas charles Returning to my hometown of Bundaberg I soon remembered why I left for Adelaide to study; the heat and humidity. Good thing there was an election on, as I could keep my mind off the heat by keeping busy assisting the much-liked Member for Bundaberg, Jack Dempsey. A very popular member in the community who won the seat in 2006, as the first conservative since 1896. He was up against ALP candidate Leanne Donaldson, who on a public forum countered the LNP’s strong plan by saying her plan might not be strong, but was alright she thought. No matter how strong a candidate he was and how weak a candidate the ALP preselected, he unfortunately lost. Nevertheless, everyone gave their best effort to keep the seat in LNP hands. Representing South Australia, I made sure the booth on polling day looked the best in the district and scrutinised professionally in the evening. Well, the booth was second best in the district according to reviews but the returning officer told me to tell South
this election campaign. But, the general issue that I believe would have changed the result the greatest is that the Newman government was trying fix all the state’s problems in one term, not gradually so the public could better understand what the government was trying to do. This I believe can relate to Abbott’s government. He is doing a great job of running the country but he has tried to fix all the problems caused by the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years in one term. The lesson is when we win government here in South Australia at the next state election, we will need to gradually fix the many issues of the current Labor government so as to prevent becoming a oneterm wonder. Nicholas Charles is a member of the SAYLM.
Australians how they do it up here in Queensland. Still not exactly sure what she meant but she signed my fluorescent yellow scrutineer’s apron after an amicable kiss goodbye. After sampling the local cuisine, Bundaberg Rum, I had time to reflect on what we could learn from this result. There are obviously many small issues that came together to cause larger issues for
014 AD-LIB | SPRING ISSUE 2014
Bundaberg booth set up by Nicholas Charles.
Q&A with Sam Duluk
We asked SAM DULUK MP About his election win in davenport and what he hopes to achieve for the electorate. What experience do you have that makes you a good representative for the people of Davenport? Duluk: I have spent my professional career in accounting and finance assisting small and medium businesses in SA. Davenport has many small businesses and I like to think I can be a strong and understanding advocate for them. Davenport also has a very strong sense of community - I know that I can draw on my many years of community service experience in order to be a good representative for the people of Davenport.
WHAT was the highlight of the election campaign for you? Duluk: Building a closer relationship with many community groups such as the CFS within Davenport was a real election highlight. Our election promise of investing an initial $20M into a roads Master Plan and first stage upgrade is also something that I’m very proud of.
What was your election lowlight? Duluk: Waiting for the results to come through on election night was not a lot of fun - nerve racking!
Sam Duluk with Andrew McLachlan CSC MLC at the Davenport campaign office.
How do you think campaign dynamics of a by-election vary from those of a campaign during a General Election? Duluk: There is certainly a lot more media scrutiny in a by-election on a candidate as the media is only focusing on one seat, not 47. Expectation management is also different.
What policy areas are you looking to make the largest contribution to in the State Liberal team? Duluk: With my background in finance I hope to be able to make a strong contribution on the economic front to the State Liberal Team. I’m also keen to champion education and people with disabilities in South Australia.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
015
What do you hope to achieve for your electorate? Duluk: The Mitcham Hills needs strong investment in road upgrades and bushfire safety. I’m proud that the Liberals have a strong plan in this area. I also would like to be seen as a strong advocate for the many community groups within the electorate.
Many would say as you take over from the Hon Iain Evans that you have big shoes to fill, what do you think was Iain Evans’ greatest contribution to the electorate of Davenport? Duluk: Iain was a great local member and champion of many local causes and groups. I believe that much of a local MPs work goes unnoticed but one of Iain’s great achievements as a local MP was to secure funding for a new Recreational Centre in Blackwood.
A busy day door knocking in Bedford Park.
In your opinion, what role do you see the SAYLM having in the State Liberal Party? Duluk: The SAYLM play a very important role in the life of the Liberal Party on many fronts, namely campaigning, policy and re-generation. I’m grateful for the support the SAYLM provided to me in the recent Davenport campaign. __________________________________________ We also interviewed Corey Wingard MP, Troy Bell MP and Vincent Tarzia MP for the last issue of AD-LIB. If you would like to read about their experiences as new members of parliament you can view the last issue of AD-LIB (Summer Issue, 2014) online at issuu.com/sayoungliberals.
016 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
Young Liberal Lisa Totani hanging up corflutes in Davenport
Early morning start helping with the Onkaparinga Council, Australia Day BBQ Breakfast at Sam’s local Lions Club.
the Hon Terry Stephens MLC joining Sam on the campaign trail.
At the Blackwood Christmas Pageant with the Hon Iain Evans
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
017
Davenport remains in safe hands Nick Burnet The resignation of Iain Evans from his seat in Davenport in the southern foothills after the disappointing loss of the South Australian state election gave way to the by-election, held on the 31st of January of 2015. To fill the shoes of the esteemed parliamentarian was Sam Duluk, a former president and life member of the Young Liberals. Irrespective of whether the matter is federal or state election, volunteers are essential to the campaign’s outcome. Enthusiasm and consistency are what I found to be the most lasting qualities to make the task at hand both productive and efficient. I volunteered on the Davenport campaign in a number of ways including both work in Davenport as well as Liberal Headquarters on Greenhill Road. I spent the majority of my time in the latter predominantly phone canvassing, organising volunteers, verbally guiding voters to the pre-poll location at Flinders University when they were lost and phone canvassed some more. The time I spent at Liberal HQ taught me a lot about what can truly make your experience as a volunteer worthwhile as well as a few election tips and tricks I’m going to keep in mind for the next time around.
not only sorted out the most difficult of constituents but provided some much needed verbal colour to the environment. I am also very appreciative of Brendan Clark who volunteered countless hours to the Davenport campaign and was a great assistance with the technical issues we often encountered while phone canvassing. I could spend all day writing about the fantastic people I worked with whilst on the Davenport campaign but to be honest I’d fill up the whole of this issue doing so. Whilst on the topic of honesty, I am not for one moment going to pretend that phone canvassing for
8 hours in a day is something that I would like to do for the rest of my life. However I think my point throughout has been made clear. It matters not what job you’re assigned, whether door knocking, letter boxing, letter folding, letter posting or even phone canvassing, the dedicated people that surround you will make your experience great. I feel that I’ve made some strong friends throughout the campaign and would encourage any member, both new and existing to get involved in an election campaign in any which way they can. Davenport has been kept in safe hands with a well deserved victory to Sam Duluk and I wish him all the very best.
I can’t describe how good it felt being appreciated as a volunteer. Working alongside some truly wonderful staff and volunteers certainly made Nicholas Burnet is the Membership Vice my time not only a lot easier but dare I say enjoyable President of the Adelaide University Liberal Club too. Liberal Party veteran Marg Westmore, whose no and a member of the SAYLM. tolerance for nonsense and cracking sense of humour
018 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
LIBERALS ON CAMPUS ROBERT KATSAMBIS campaigning techniques and ran with a strategy that wrestled control of the peak student organisations from the Left. I hope this article serves as a guide to Liberal students who wish to make an impact as an activist on campus. The Liberal Club
It is typical of university campuses around Australia to be rampant breeding-grounds for Left-wing activists who dominate that landscape. This dominance traditionally has extended to membership recruitment, activism and representation on student bodies. For many, it can be demoralising being part of a small minority of Liberal students fighting against what at times can be a formidable Leftist opposition. Campuses around the country are controlled by groups such as the Labor-Left, the Greens and the Socialist Alternative, as well as groups of leftwingers who aren’t members of any party yet laughingly purport to be ‘independent.’ However, it doesn’t have to be like this. The Adelaide University Liberal Club is the prime example of how even at such a Left-wing campus, Liberals are able to succeed in their fight against socialism and win many important battles along the way. Since becoming President of the Club in 2013 we have consistently out-recruited the Left, and at last year’s student elections, we refined our
At the start of 2013 when I took over the leadership of the Adelaide University Liberal Club we had around 30 members. Since then we have reformed our membership package, revamped our presence on social media and strengthened communication systems with members and prospective members. As a result of these changes, just two years later membership stands at over 100 and with O’Week fast approaching this will continue to grow. One of our main focusses in recent years has been to recruit new Liberal Club members into the Party. Over 80 per cent of our members have joined the Young Liberals, most of whom have engaged in campaigning for the Party in federal and state elections, and also in the recent by-elections. We have bolstered the Club’s presence on campus with a busy social calendar. Last year, for example, we held a pub crawl, a dinner at Parliament House, numerous pub nights, new member events, policy debates, a free BBQ and regular meetings. Student Politics For two and a half years I have been the only
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
019
Students of the winning coalition celebrate the close of polls on the Friday of election week at Adelaide University. Rhys Williams was elected to a two year term on the AUU Board, receiving the second highest number of first preference votes.
Liberal Club member to be a Board Director of the Adelaide University Union. The AUU is the peak student representative body at the University and controls the purse strings to most student political activity. As of recent times it has obtained numerous corporate interests and has a budget of over $2.5 million per year.
The Liberal Club team has also achieved unprecedented success on the Adelaide University Student Representative Council. The SRC now has five Liberal students, and soon we will have a sixth appointed to fill a casual vacancy. In a coalition with international students, we control it for the first time ever.
This includes getting Liberal Club members elected to the roles of Women’s Officer and Rural Officer. The Liberal Club ticket also boasts Jack In 2014 we had our best student election result Newton being elected Education Officer, which will for AUU on record, having Rhys Williams (the editor be a crucial role over the next year as we seek to of this magazine) also elected to the AUU Board. promote the Federal Coalition’s university reforms to Together we have formed a majority block in which students. we have already taken away the Left’s power to sack Further, Jack joins Kyriaco Nikias on the SRC other directors for baseless reasons, which in the past Executive. This is a powerful body of 5 people who has been used to sack Liberals in order for the Left to control the entire organisation when it is not sitting hold onto power. and who can authorise spending without having to go During my tenure I have exposed the Left’s through its Council. dodgy dealings and the way in which they rort the We saw it as a big achievement even getting system to give their mates cushy jobs and payoffs people on to the SRC, but having two Liberals on its at the expense of students. This has been one of our executive is something that no Liberal student, both biggest sources of electoral success and I predict past or present, could have ever imagined to see. that soon we will have ended this protracted era of wasteful spending of students’ money.
020 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
Student Media Following the 2014 student elections Leighton McDonald-Stuart was elected as editor of the renowned student magazine On Dit (pronounced “on-dee” and French for “they speak”). Leighton serves on the executives of the Liberal Club and the Young Liberals and is the first Liberal editor of On Dit since Nick Xenophon in 1977, who at the time was a Liberal Club member.
majority of Liberal students on his executive. Also, last year Ahmed was elected Vice President of the Law Students’ Society.
The commerce and law faculties should be viewed as rich recruitment opportunities for the Liberal Party as they produce students who naturally subscribe to free-market thought. By having such a strong presence in these areas we will be able to better understand the way our supporters in these areas think, and in turn we can further develop our Ever since then On Dit has been the Left’s mouth techniques to recruit them into the Party. piece. They have shut out right-wing contributors and sought to further their ideological agenda Where from here? through a misleading façade of ‘unbiased’ writing Over my two years as President we have built and impartiality. the Liberal Club up to be a force to be reckoned Leighton and his On Dit team campaigned with on campus. As should always be the case, the on shifting the focus away from niche, far-Left current focus is to ensure that the Club maintains this propaganda to a publication that covers student growth and develop new ways of recruiting, winning issues. I am looking forward to this being the case. elections and most importantly, delivering more It would also mean a lot more people will actually efficient and desirable services for students from the read their student magazine, which under the Left’s AUU and SRC. editorship was likely to be thrown in the bin by the It is our role on campus, particularly this year, to few people that picked up a copy. sell the government’s university reforms and combat Further, Liberal Club member Matt Bell won the lies and misleading arguments of our opponents. the position of Student Radio Director, booting the We have the job of every other Liberal student group Left out of that role which they have held for as long around Australia to promote the government’s reform as anyone could remember. You can now expect to agenda in the wake of a campaign which the Left can hear a dramatic decline in Leftist dialogue on the easily attack as being unfair to students. station’s political discussion program ‘Left, Right I am confident that on the Adelaide University and Centre’. campus we have the people who will do an excellent Faculty Representation job in prosecuting the case for university fee deregulation. The Liberal Club’s electoral success has extended to representation in the professions faculty. Robert Katsambis is the President of the In 2014 our Campaign Director Ahmed Gamar was Adelaide University Liberal Club and Board elected unopposed as President of the Business Director of the Adelaide University Union. He is an Students’ Association. He enjoys the support of a appointed member of the SAYLM Executive.
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
021
Money down the drain! LAura Dickenson SA Water currently burdens South Australian residents with an annual supply charge of $282.80 for the pipes running past your property, whether you are using the water or not. A huge problem with the supply charge is that South Australians have to pay this rate even when they don’t need the water and don’t even have a meter on their property. A woman I know is paying annual water supply charges for a block of land in a destitute town that does not have a house on it and
does not have a water meter. She hasn’t been to that block in many years, and is trying desperately to sell it. Why should this poor woman have to pay money to the government for water that she does not even have connected to her land? This charge is for a pipe running past her property that she has no need for and nothing to do with. Why is it OK that people are forced to pay for something they don’t use? Why are we simply accepting the pure revenue raising antics of SA Water and not enforcing a logical payment scheme? Think of another scenario in which a property is completely self-sufficient. A resident could have many rainwater tanks in their back yard and not need any water supplied to them at all, yet they still have to pay water rates. These people are trying to save costs and make the most of the free resources available to them and yet no matter how savvy they are, they can never get away from the supply charge. Why are you paying water supply charges when you are not actually being supplied the water? In the South East, a couple decided to buy a
022 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
large block of land and sub-divide it into 6 units. They had to pay approximately $8000 of connection charges as well as normal water rates. When they had one unit fully developed on the land but the other five were not even in construction stage, they still had to pay water rates for all six units. It is a huge overcharging by SA Water to make you pay rates for a house that does not exist yet instead of only charging when the house is actually using the water, especially when they already had a connection charge. South Australia has the highest water rates in the country which emphasises the fact that this scheme is clear revenue-raising for a government that cannot control its poor spending habits. The amount is supposedly used to accrue money for maintenance work on the pipes for when it is required but instead it provides a dividend of 95% of after tax profit back to the government as a revenue raising scheme. A logical payment scheme would involve scrapping the supply charge all together and factoring in any maintenance costs on the piping into the costs of water usage. When you buy a bottle of water you don’t pay $3 for the water and an extra $2 for the bottle itself. The bottle cost is simply factored into the water price. It should be the same concept for SA water, not having to pay for the pipe running past your property if you don’t use it, but having that cost factored into the usage rates for those that do use the service.
Laura Dickenson is a member of the Young Liberals and Liberal Student at the University of Adelaide.
CHRISTMAS BBQ CELEBRATING A SUCCESSFUL 2014 AT RICHARDS PARK
Jen Fuller and Courtney Stephens
The SAYLM Executive hosted a BBQ at Richards Park, Norwood on Sunday 7 December 2014 to celebrate the upcoming festive season and thank Young Liberals for all their hard work in 2014.
Ella Conboy, Kelvin Binns and Jarryd Thiel
The day kicked off with a short council meeting and an address by the candidate for Davenport and Past Young Liberal President Sam Duluk before members enjoyed a gourmet BBQ, cold drinks and a spot of Bocce and Croquet. Many thanks to Charlotte Edmunds and the Social Committee for their hard work in organising another successful event. Also thanks to Tomich Wines, Coopers Brewery and Barossa Fine Foods for supporting the BBQ and to the Hon Terry Stephens MLC, the Hon David Ridgway MLC and Senator David Fawcett for coming along and catching up with the many Young Liberals enjoying the sunshine and festivities. Courtney Stephens
Jack Newton and Rhys Williams manning the barbeque
SAYLM State Vice-President
AD-LIB| AUTUMN ISSUE 2015
023
www.sayoungliberals.com www.facebook.com/sayoungliberals @sayoungliberals
024 AD-LIB | AUTUMN ISSUE 2015