SA Nationals Take the Bench for Federal Election

The posters are out as parties begin to parade their candidates to the public, trying to make a lasting
impression on voters in this marathon campaign.

But our states stobie poles will be less populated this year, with the SA Nationals taking a seat on the
bench.

The National Party of Australia has a strong presence in the nations history, representing our rural
and country areas for over 96 years as Australias second oldest party.

Despite this, it is no secret that the South Australian branch of the National Party has had a rather
unsuccessful run in the states political game.

In total, the party has held just a handful of seats, while its sister parties have managed to hold
considerable power in the eastern states, in particular, Queensland and New South Wales.

Retired Australian political scientist and home-grown South Aussie, Dean Jaensch says, if you look
at the state of South Australia, what youve got is a very big rural area and very heavy intensity rural
industries that keep the economy going.

With a slogan like for regional Australia it is a true wonder how they have let such a rural state as
South Australia slip through their grasp.

Jaensch believes that the main cause of this can be found in the history of SA politics.

In 1932 when we had a Country Party, what happened is that the Liberal Party and the Country Party
combined to form a Liberal and Country League.

Since its inception, The Liberal and Country League (LCL) garnered support until the early 70s a
significant 40 years in the states political history.

So you have two generations of rural people who have never known a National Party. They grew up
with the Liberal and Country League, which was essentially in its structure and its policies a
country party, explains Jaensch.

What seems to have happened in South Australia is that the Liberal Party has claimed the title of a
country party and left The Nationals scrambling for an identity.

Jaensch continues, The [SA Nationals] keep trying and occasionally put up candidates but they run
into the brick wall because most rural people identify, even though it is the Liberal Party now, they
still identify centrally with the Liberal and Country League.

Perhaps adding to their identity crisis, it is noteworthy that the SA Nationals have never formed a
coalition with the Liberal Party, unlike branches in the eastern states.

Because its in coalition almost everywhere else, the National Party has no distinctive character and
knowledge outside being in a coalition with the Liberal Party, says Jaensch.
President of the SA Nationals, Grantley Siviour explains, In Victoria and New South Wales, they
have the coalition arrangement because the Liberal Party know that they cant win the National Party
seats or enough votes in Government without the Nationals.

Since the demise of the LCL, Siviour says the states Liberals have never extended an invitation to
form a coalition because the Liberals strengths are already within the rural electorates his party looks
towards for votes.

Siviour puts it bluntly, its not a choice by our party [to not be in coalition with the Liberals], its just
never been an option.

Being a regional party, weve only really got two electorates we would target, and that would be
Barker and Grey. But at the end of the day, they are safe, conservative seats, currently held by the
Liberal party, said Mr Siviour.

The SA Nationals have not held a seat in parliament since Karlene Maywald lost the seat of Chaffey
to Liberals Tim Whetstone in the 2010 state election.

As for the future of the SA Nationals, Siviour states, were still campaigningwe will just wait for
opportunities, but there are no opportunities in this federal election.

Come the next state election in 2018, you never know, we might have a couple of people put their
hand up to contest the state seat and that will depend, its just opportunities and thats how the
National Party has operated for the last 40 odd years in South Australia.

Nick Xenophon Team The Deciding Factor in SA

The spectacular rise of the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) as a genuine third party in South Australia
means that if The Nationals had produced a candidate; they would have had quite a battle on their
hands.

In an unexpected turn of events, SA Nationals unsuccessful candidate from 2013, James Stacey, has
jumped ship and is now running with Nick Xenophon for the federal senate.

In response to the news of Stacey, SA Nationals President, Grantley Siviour shows no sign of bad
blood.

He was our bright and shining star and he chose to go with Nick, so good luck to him. There is no
animosity there, hes a good candidate and hed make a good politician.

Not only has NXT poached a Nationals candidate, but they could very well poach a significant
amount of seats as well.

With polls sitting consistently above 20%, Nick Xenophon is a true threat to both Labor and Liberal.

Retired Flinders University politics lecturer Dean Jaensch explains how Xenophon has become such
an influential public figure.
First of all, Nick Xenophon has achieved tremendous publicity through his balance of power role in
the senate.

Secondly, Xenophon is a remarkably good publicist. He managed to get his name and his photograph
in the paper and on the television very often indeed.

Both Janesch and Siviour agree it is highly likely South Australia will see NXT gain three seats in the
senate.

The other question is, how well is he going to go in the lower house seats? asks Jaensch.

According to Siviour, the results within South Australia could potentially determine who governs the
country, especially if enough protest votes are lodged.

I think thats a real risk for the major parties of SA a protest vote we all know where its gonna
go; its gonna go to Nick Xenophon.

This election is going to be the most interesting thing in South Australia we have ever
seen[Xenophon] could change the whole dynamic of government in this country, just by one single
vote.