Jay Weatherill, Steven Marshall trade insults during SA leaders' debate
Updated
The South Australian Premier and Opposition Leader have traded barbs and insults in a robust debate a year out from the next state election.
A day after Premier Jay Weatherill clashed with Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, he pounced on Steven Marshall, suggesting he was only party leader because there was no one else.
"If there was another choice on the Liberal side ... they'd be leader at the moment," Mr Weatherill said.
The leaders' debate was at a packed Adelaide Convention Centre, with 650 people mainly from business and property sectors.
Mr Marshall gave as good as he got, arguing Mr Weatherill was picking fights with Canberra because he was desperate to hold on to power.
"Jay Weatherill is fighting. He's fighting for his own political future. He's not fighting for the people of South Australia," Mr Marshall said.
He also said Labor had a cynical election strategy.
"If you could encapsulate the Government's capital investment strategy it would be this: marginal seats, electoral cycles. That is what we've had after 15 years of Labor administration," Mr Marshall said.
Next March Labor will be seeking a fifth term in office, with the Liberals viewed as in the box seat to win, especially after a boundaries redistribution notionally handed the party four Labor held seats.
But Senator Nick Xenophon's SA Best party is a wildcard, and its candidates could have a big influence on the election outcome.
It's something Mr Weatherill seized on during the debate, pointing to the Liberal's freight infrastructure policy, GlobeLink, and the party's 10-year moratorium on gas fracking in the state's south-east.
"GlobeLink, which is a multi-hundred-million-dollar absolute dog of an idea, meant to be about future freight opportunities, you didn't even speak to the Freight Council about it and Adelaide Airport almost died with their leg in the air," Mr Weatherill told the Convention Centre audience.
"It's all about Steven's panic about Nick Xenophon taking three seats off him in the Adelaide Hills.
"So don't talk to me about cheap electoral politics and about using public money to actually buy votes, that's exactly what it was about [GlobeLink]," he said.
Topics: states-and-territories, government-and-politics, adelaide-5000, sa
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