A battle between Independent Nick Xenophon and the Greens has erupted in South Australia for first preference votes which could shape the power of the next government. The Senate race for the sixth spot is one of the most influential in the South Australian election campaign.
At 25, Greens candidate Sarah Hanson-Young made history as the youngest Senator ever elected but now faces an early retirement.
“Tony Abbott wants this seat so that he can get effective control of the Parliament,” she says. “And he’s doing everything he can to do it. So I’ve got a fight on my hands.”
Her prospects aren’t helped by the presence of Nick Xenophon. He may not have the backing of a party machine, but the ‘No Pokies’ campaigner has built a large public profile in his experience in the Senate and the Legislative Council of the South Australian Parliament.
“I’m having to do this as a grassroots campaign, going to community centres, appealing for volunteers,” he says.
“Because my biggest challenge is to have enough people at polling booths to hand out how-to-vote cards for me.”
Watching Senator Xenophon campaign, recognition seems to be the last of his worries.
He won 14.78 per cent of first preference votes at the 2007 election, securing a quota in his own right.
Several of his opponents expect that vote to grow towards 20 per cent, a figure he secured when re-elected to the state parliament in 2006.
Source: ABC