DAVID SPEERS: Let’s go to Adelaide and the Liberal camp there, the Isobel Redmond camp tonight, and Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham joins us now. Senator, thanks for your time. What are you hearing so far there tonight? We haven’t seen any real results through but the exit polls are somewhat encouraging for the Liberals?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Well I think it’s safe to say the exit polls have buoyed what was already a fairly buoyant mood. The people on the ground today of course were buoyed at the beginning of the day by the Newspoll showing a clear lead and a clear preference amongst South Australians for Isobel Redmond’s style of leadership. The mood on the booths today… voters were determined, I think it’s safe to say. It’s hard to tell quite what that means, but they were going with purpose through to the ballot box, and I suspect were casting a judgment on the Government and a harsh judgment on the Government, and what we’re now hearing in terms of your exit polling is once again very encouraging and we’ll now all be sitting on the edge of our seats, of course, waiting to see the details from the actual real polls.
CHRIS KENNY: Simon, Chris Kenny here, you’ve been out and about on the hustings today and I notice from your Facebook site actually that you’re making some accusations about some shenanigans at some of the booths, perhaps suggesting that some candidates or, sorry, some people spruiking for votes were misrepresenting themselves, can you tell us anything about that and have there been any formal complaints laid?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Look, I certainly can, Chris. In a number of electorates we saw Labor Party turning out wearing T-shirts promoting themselves as being from Family First handing out how-to-vote cards that looked like they were from… well, let me get to the key part here… handing out how-to-vote cards that pretended they were from Family First, and those how-to-vote cards were authorised by Michael Brown, the State Secretary of the Labor Party. Those how-to-vote cards, however,
BRUCE HAWKER: … which is why they (unclear) by the Australian Electoral Commission…
DAVID SPEERS: Hang on, hang on, let’s…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Those how-to-vote cards, however, did not follow the preferences that Family First had lodged as their registered ticket with the Electoral Commission in South Australia. They did not follow the will of Family First and were clearly an attempt by the Labor Party to deceive the intent of voters and of Family First voters…
DAVID SPEERS: Let’s hear from…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: … into how they should vote today.
DAVID SPEERS: Okay. Bruce Hawker, have you heard of this, or is this news to you?
BRUCE HAWKER: No, it was reported during the day and it was also reported that the local Electoral Commissioner considered the complaint and rejected it because it was authorised by the Labor Party.
DAVID SPEERS: It seems a pretty sneaky tactic…
BRUCE HAWKER: It’s what they call second preference cards and people clearly were showing that it was from the Labor Party, so it was a request to people who were thinking of voting for Family First… Family First first…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: It was only clearly…
BRUCE HAWKER: … to put their second preference to Labor. Except… and it had to be legalled by the…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: … clearly from the Labor Party…
DAVID SPEERS: Simon, go.
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Bruce, it was only clearly from the Labor Party if you happened to know the name of the Labor Party State Secretary, which of course most voters would not. And secondly, the Electoral Commissioner is not the final arbiter on these things so we’ll see where this matter goes. But regardless of whether it was within the law, it was very clearly unethical, grossly unethical behaviour on the part of the Labor Party and I wouldn’t want to be the Labor Party trying to strike a deal with Family First any time soon after their behaviour in South Australia today.
BRUCE HAWKER: That’s … unlikely anyway.
CHRIS KENNY: I just think it’s an interesting one for us to raise here now because we’re talking about hung parliaments and the possibilities of a close result…
DAVID SPEERS: What seat was…
CHRIS KENNY: I think Simon was talking about a number of seats, seats like Morialta and some of those key suburban marginals…
DAVID SPEERS: Simon, was that the only… I just want to jot this down for later reference. Just Morialta?
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: My understanding is certainly in Morialta, certainly in Mawson, certainly in Light. These are all key seats that you’ve just mentioned and the handful of votes we’re talking about here, the handful of preferences that could have been influenced by this deceitful behaviour from the Labor Party, will clearly be a factor.
BRUCE HAWKER: Well, as I said before, the Electoral Commissioner considered the complaint and he [sic] allowed the cards to continue to be distributed. That’s in accordance with the law in South Australia, so…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Bruce, do you think this was ethical?
BRUCE HAWKER: Well, if it was in accordance with the law…
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Bruce? Do you think this was ethical?
BRUCE HAWKER: … if it was in accordance with the law, as determined by the Electoral Commissioner, then it is.
SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Well, then…
CHRIS KENNY: Well I’m glad I’ve raised this one, gentlemen, because I just think we’re going to have a very close election result quite possibly here and these are the sorts of things that will be examined and perhaps taken further if it is that close.
DAVID SPEERS: Indeed, indeed. Simon Birmingham, look, thanks for that, we’ll talk to you a bit later on in the evening and see just what we will have to play with in some of those key seats.