Adelaide lord mayor defects to ALP
By Philippa Stanford
ADELAIDE — The ALP announced on January 26 that it had wooed Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith into contesting Labor pre-selection for the marginal seat of Adelaide.
In an echo of Cheryl Kernot's defection in 1997, the Labor opposition hopes that the high profile of Lomax-Smith will boost the party's chances at the next state election, due by April 2002. The seat of Adelaide is one of three Labor must win to form government. A swing of 2.4% is needed against the sitting member, health minister Michael Armitage.
Lomax-Smith's term as lord mayor ends in May. She joined the ALP a month ago and, while there has been no hint so far of which faction, if any, she will join, opposition leader Mike Rann did play a big role in her defection.
Lomax-Smith only last year quashed rumours that she would enter state politics, advising Liberal Premier John Olsen that the claims were "arrant nonsense". Armitage has already been trying to warn people off Lomax-Smith by saying that support for her will result in a Rann-led government.
The Olsen government has been under scrutiny lately as a result of public anger at its privatisation of various state enterprises, imposition of a compulsory emergency services levy, and funding cuts to health and education. In rural areas, which have been particularly hard-hit by these measures, Olsen's support has declined dramatically to 26%, down from 44%. Labor support has increased by 11%. Statewide polls are indicating that the ALP would win an election.
Democratic Socialist Party member Stan Thompson commented, "While an ALP government would be preferable to Olsen's, we should be under no illusions that Labor would reverse the funding cuts and privatisation. We will need a strong, high-pressure campaign by working people to do that."