AD-Lib Spring 2016 - Election Edition

AD-Lib T h e S o u t h A u s t r a l i a n Yo u n g L i b e r a l M o v e m e n t M a g a z i n e Spring 2016

ELECTION EDITION

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Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein belong solely to the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or the South Australian Young Liberal Movement.

Contributions to this edition of AD-Lib are from members and friends of the SAYLM. To contribute to the next issue of AD-Lib or to contact the Editor, email adlib@sayoungliberals.com.

Authorised by Mr Robert Katsambis, President, SAYLM. 104 Greenhill Road, Unley, 5061.

Contents From the Editor 3 From the President 4 New Executive Team 5 Committees & Delegates 6 Boothby report - Nicolle Flint MP 7 Kingston report - Kelvin Binns 10 Port Adelaide report - Emma Godfrey

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Young Liberals on the ground - Leighton McDonald-Stuart

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Out and about during the election campaign

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Is a law degree worth it? - Henry Davis

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No public funding for political parties - Luke Hanson

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New SAYLM website 23 2016 Samuel Griffith Society Conference

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Young Liberal Ball 26 2016 Nick Minchin Perpetual Award winner - Courtney Stephens

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2016 Young Liberals of the Year

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2017 Federal Convention bid - Rhys Williams

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2016 Convention & Polly Waffle Cup

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Young Liberal Life Members 31

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From the Editor Thank you for picking up the latest edition of Ad-Lib magazine.

You’ll notice a number of changes in this edition. Not only is this version a special Election Edition, the look has been given a bit of a refresh.

A lot has happened with the Young Liberals since the last Ad-Lib. On 15 July the Young Liberals hosted their Annual General Meeting, electing their new Executive to lead them over the next 12 months. I was honoured to be elected as the Communications Director, serving under new President Robert Katsambis. You can find out a little bit more about our new executive team, as well as the various committees, on pages five and six.

Of course, there was also the small thing of a Federal Election! It was a close-run race, but thankfully the Turnbull Government secured a majority in the House of Representatives, alongside a new-look Senate which includes the freshly minted Nick Xenophon Team. How our Party counters such a populist threat will pose a huge challenge in the months and years ahead as we gear up for the 2018 State Election.

Policy Vice President Benjamin Newell has also provided a recap on the Samuel Griffith Society Conference, and the key policy discussed there, on page 24.

On page 23 you can discover our new website. It’s modern, slick and responsive – exactly what we need in this new age of digital communications.

All political movements - young and old - should be investing in new digital communications technology to ensure we can take the fight to Labor and the Greens, who are already well advanced in these areas.

The Young Liberals featured prominently during the Election Campaign, assisting in a swathe of seats across the State. Boothby was an area where many Young Liberals helped out, and newly elected MP, Nicolle Flint, has kindly written a piece thanking all the volunteers who played such an integral role in her election. You can see that on page seven.

If all that isn’t enough, the Movement recently bid for the hosting rights to the 2017 Federal Convention in Adelaide. Four members of the Executive – Grace, Saffron, Jocelyn and myself constructed the bid and State Vice President Rhys Williams presented it to the Federal Executive.

Find out how we went on page 29.

Running for Federal Parliament is never an easy thing, but doing it as a Young Liberal is an entirely different endeavour. Young Liberals Kelvin Binns and Emma Godfrey, candidates for Kingston and Port Adelaide, have provided their impressions of the campaign (from page ten).

Lastly, we must acknowledge this year’s Young Liberals of the Year – Kelvin Binns and Saffron Ronson - and the winner of the Nick Minchin Perpetual Award, Travis Munckton. Immediate Past Vice President Courtney Stephens discusses their achievements on page 27.

Leighton McDonald-Stuart has also given a recap of the YL efforts on the ground on page 14.

Again, thanks for picking up Ad-Lib. This is a magazine for all Young Liberals and I encourage everyone to contribute their thoughts on issues by writing an article over the next 12 months. If you’re interested, let me know and we can grab a coffee.

Policy-wise, the Young Liberals have been very active, debating policy at the recent Council Meeting at the Robin Hood Hotel, attended by over 60 YLs. Henry Davis and Luke Hanson have written pieces on their policy motions discussed at the meeting, which you can find from page 18.

Cheers, Rowan Thomas SAYLM Communications Director

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From the President

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lot of great things have been happening in the Young Liberals since the new Executive was elected in July this year. In just three months we have hosted successful, well attended events, put together a successful bid to host the Young Liberal Federal Convention, reinvigorated our policy discussion and process, and have significantly improved our communication with members and supporters (including the long-awaited new website!) All of this has been a product of our proactive engagement strategy which was developed and implemented by our dedicated Executive team.

Central to this has been Young Liberal Council, the governing body of our branch which comprises every member of the Movement. We want Young Liberal Council to be something for our members to look forward to, not just something we have to do because it is a constitutional requirement.

To do so we have placed an emphasis on having engaging guest speakers, stimulating policy discussion, and by giving our members plenty of notice using a range of modern communication techniques.

In implementing this strategy, we have already had great results; our first Council meeting of this term was attended by over 60 people. At that meeting in early September, we were very fortunate to have Senator Anne Ruston, Nicolle Flint MP and divisional President Steve Murray share their views on women’s representation in parliament in the context of the Liberal Party, as well as a policy discussion on electoral funding, Labor’s new outdoor smoking laws and higher education.

We have also been making significant progress on the policy development front. Over the last few months we have transformed the Young Liberal Policy Committee from merely having an agenda setting role, to perform a research function. The Committee now produces a brief discussion paper on each policy the Young Liberals debate, which has resulted in us having more informed policy discussion. It also plays an important role in our Party’s future as we are now starting to equip our members with the skills of researching policy and presenting a reasoned argument.

We are also very excited to announce that the South Australian YLs will be hosting the Federal Young Liberal Convention in January next year.

Our bid, which was accepted by the Federal

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Executive, was prepared by Rhys Williams, Jocelyn Sutcliffe, Grace Marryat, Saffron Ronson and Rowan Thomas, who have been doing an excellent job in organising the Convention. Young Liberals will be coming from across Australia to participate in the Convention and it is our job to make sure that they have a rewarding time discussing policy, socialising and going home with a lasting impression of what South Australia has to offer.

Until then, we are excited to be bringing back the annual Tonkin Dinner, as well as having a number of other events for our members and any senior party members who wish to come along.

A great thanks goes to our Communications Director Rowan Thomas who has done a fantastic job revitalising our Movement’s communication with members and online presence. The Movement now has an active and engaging presence on social media, and an excellent website which takes advantage of modern communication techniques and campaigning technology. We have also greatly improved on our email correspondence with our members in terms of content and frequency.

In light of the above I am very much looking forward to working with our outstanding Executive team over the next nine months to replicate this great work.

Robert Katsambis SAYLM President

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New Executive Team

Rhys Williams

Benjamin Newell

State Vice President Policy Vice President

Kelvin Binns Admin Director

Laura Dickenson

Grace Marryat

Nikolas Baric

State Treasurer

Social Director

Membership Director

Jocelyn Sutcliffe

Rowan Thomas

Saffron Ronson

Campaigns Director

Communications Director

Development Director 5

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Committees & Delegates DELEGATES TO STATE COUNCIL Alexander Hyde Leighton McDonald-Stuart Ansar Rana Jarryd Thiel Christopher Moriarty Jocelyn Sutcliffe Georgia Williams Claire Hale Tristan Aliferis Laura Dickenson William Katsambis Rhys Williams

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POLICY COMMITTEE

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

Henry Davis Tut Tut Henry Symons Georgina Axford Dominic Olivieri Luke Hanson

William van Dissel Nicole Nash Katarina Baric Nelson Ellis Georgina Williams Max Bruce

CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

FEDERAL COUNCIL

Claire Hale Jarryd Thiel Nick Charles Jim Coffey Matthew Hume Saffron Ronson

Robert Katsambis - PRESIDENT Kelvin Binns Rhys Williams Saffron Ronson Grace Marryat David Morton

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ELECTION SPECIAL

Team effort

Newly elected Member for Boothby Nicolle Flint reflects on her historic win and the enormous contribution the Young Liberals gave to her campaign.

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here are many people to whom I owe thanks for my electoral success in Boothby: our dedicated senior Party members, my Campaign Manager and now Member for Davenport, Sam Duluk MP, State President Mr Steve Murray, my predecessor Dr Andrew Southcott, my federal and state colleagues, but especially the incredible South Australian Young Liberal team.

So many Young Liberal volunteers put in amazing efforts letter-boxing, phone canvassing, doorknocking, putting up corflutes and attending shopping centre listening posts. Many are represented in the photos around this article. I cannot thank you enough for your efforts.

Throughout the long campaign in Boothby that started immediately after my preselection on 31 October last year, Young Liberals were there supporting me in everything I did.

Immediate Past Young Liberal President Alex Hyde was instrumental in establishing my campaign.

Alex kept a close eye on the overall strategic

goals, coordinated numerous activities like street corner meetings and doorknocking, and recruited numerous volunteers. Alex himself was out each Sunday afternoon with me as we personally knocked on thousands of doors. He put up posters, letterboxed, and attended Campaign Executive meetings. Most remarkably, Alex did all of this while playing a key role in the Senate Campaign and supporting our candidate in federal Kingston, Kelvin Binns. Kelvin is another impressive Young Liberal.

Jack Newton did an extraordinary job mapping out street corner meeting locations, but most importantly coordinated our letter-boxing campaign. Managing a group of over 100 enthusiastic and incredibly dedicated volunteers Jack coordinated 130,000-plus separate pieces of communication letter-boxed throughout the eight month Boothby campaign. This covered the 62,000 or so households in Boothby more than two-times over. Our volunteers walked the streets in 40-degree heat, the freezing cold rain and up and down hills. Jack also put up corflutes, letterboxed, stood on the side of the road with me

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AD-Lib in icy conditions corflute waving and attended Campaign Executive meetings.

Leighton McDonald-Stuart also sat on my Executive and convinced a dedicated band of about 50 volunteers to phone canvass 40,000 households based in the Campaign Office and at Liberal Party State Secretariat. This was a remarkable achievement.

Every Sunday afternoon throughout summer, Erin Murray attended street-corner meetings with me. Week-in-week out through December, January and February, Erin was there with me taking photos, providing moral support, as well as policy and strategic advice. Erin drove me across the length and breadth of Boothby to our 91 separate meetings and served on the Campaign Executive. Saffron Ronson was another dedicated member of the Campaign Executive and undertook a broad range of tasks from supporting me at shopping listening posts, doorknocking, letter-boxing, putting up hundreds of corflutes in terrible weather, and, importantly, provided me with a huge amount of coeliac-friendly food that kept me going in the last month of the campaign.

The huge amount of correspondence we received by email was skilfully handled by Ben Newell, who also letter-boxed, put up corflutes and a range of other tasks.

Zane Basic and Claire Hale doorknocked with myself and Alex Hyde every single Sunday afternoon for months and I cannot thank them enough. It is a task that few volunteers are comfortable doing and their dedication, in often terrible weather, was impressive.

Nick Minchin Perpetual Award recipient, Travis Munckton, managed the difficult task of putting up corflutes.

Travis identified strategic locations, managed volunteers and the replacement of hundreds of corflutes that were defaced or went missing on an all-too regular basis.

There are so many more Young Liberal volunteers who put in amazing efforts letter-boxing, phone canvassing, doorknocking, putting up corflutes – and waving them on the side of the road in freezing weather – and attending shopping centre listening posts. I thank you all.

The support I received on Facebook from Young

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Liberals was incredible too. I believe that our Facebook presence was a significant contributor to our success and a clear point of difference with other candidates and campaigns.

Rowan Thomas’ excellent design work on my website rounded out a highly-professional online presence.

Our impressive fund-raising efforts were largely thanks to the Honorary Campaign Treasurer, former Young Liberal President Michael van Dissel.

Aside from this, as we

did not have a federal

office and staff, we

were reliant on volunteer

contributions. The

Young Liberal volunteer

effort saved our campaign hundreds

of thousands of dollars.

I have provided considerable

detail about the efforts of

the Young Liberal team because

without this support I do not

believe we could have won the

seat of Boothby.

Holding a seat when a long-term sitting member has retired is always a difficult task. In addition to this South Australia faced the biggest electoral challenge in the nation thanks to Senator Xenophon running a team of lower and upper house candidates.

In light of these factors our result here in Boothby was remarkable to say the least.

We achieved the second smallest swing against

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any Liberal-held seat in South Australia. The seat of Boothby had a swing against it of 3.5% which is exactly the same swing as the Liberal Party faced nationally.

To put this into context the swings against Liberal-held seats in South Australia was as follows: · · · · · ·

Hindmarsh – 2.4% Boothby – 3.5% Sturt – 4.3% Grey – 11.6% Barker – 11.9% Mayo – 17.5%

There are two facts evident from the campaign in Boothby.

The South Australian Young Liberal Movement has consistently produced our best campaigners from Sam Duluk and Michael van Dissel through to Immediate Past President Alex Hyde and other members of my Boothby team moving into YL leadership roles now.

Our Young Liberals follow in the tradition of our senior Party members who have generously given their money and time because they believe the Liberal Party provides the Australian people with the freedom to be their best. The work ethic our Young Liberals demonstrated in Boothby is remarkable. The future of our Party is in very safe hands.

Nicolle Flint MP Member for Boothby

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Principles worth fighting for Kelvin Binns discusses why he ran in one of the safest Labor seats in the country and why it’s important the Liberal Party puts up a strong fight in seats like Kingston.

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s the Liberal Candidate for Kingston in the recent Federal Election, I was often asked the question “why would you bother?” After all, what 27-yearold would make the decision to leave a well-paying job and spend four months fighting an election where the chances of victory are slim at best?

Some called it stupid, others brave. When it comes to politics, everyone has an opinion. Many have since asked with the benefit of hindsight would I still have chosen to run? Two months on, and having had the opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned during my first campaign as a Liberal candidate, the answer to that question invariably remains “yes”.

As a naturally optimistic person, I went into the campaign with a sense of hope, but also a sober understanding of the situation we were facing in Kingston. My opponent was an accomplished politician, one who had managed to turn what has traditionally been viewed as a bellwether seat into one of the safest Labor seats in the country.

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In addition, most of the polling in the months preceding the election showed Labor leading the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis, so my campaign team knew it would be a significant challenge to achieve even the smallest swing towards us. Nevertheless, we rolled up our sleeves and committed ourselves to the task ahead, knowing full well that we were engaging in an uphill battle.

So I come back to the initial question – why bother?

In politics we focus a great deal of effort on winning elections, and rightly so. But politics is about so much more than these electoral contests that take place every three or four years, as important as these are. Politics is, or at least in my opinion should be, as much about the battle of ideas and giving a voice to those in our community who rely on the Liberal Party to represent their views, not only in the Parliament, but on a multitude of issues in the public debate.

We must remember that in 2013, even a safe Labor seat like Kingston had 28,492 voters who chose the Liberal Party as the party best able to represent their views in the Parliament and another 6,954 voters chose to preference us ahead of Labor. That is over 35,000 people who put their trust in the Liberal Party to represent them on a range of issues such as fixing the economic mess we had inherited, returning the budget to surplus, keeping our borders secure and defending freedom of speech, among other things.

With all of this in mind, I determined that I would approach the Kingston campaign with the same energy and commitment I would have if it were a marginal seat. Of course, this was not surprising to anyone who knows me well – I’ve never been one to do things in halves. But ultimately my decision to invest time and energy into this campaign was

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ELECTION SPECIAL driven by my respect for the 35,000 people who voted Liberal at the last election and my confidence in the values and beliefs we share as Liberals. Whether we receive one vote or seven million votes, these are principles worth fighting for.

Of course, another key reason why it is so important for us to contest, and to contest strongly, seats like Kingston is the impact on our Senate vote. Whilst it may not be possible in many cases to win a lower house seat with a swing of three or four per cent, when it comes to the Senate, such a swing can mean the difference between achieving an additional quota and another Liberal Senator.

I was pleased that in Kingston we saw a swing of 4.06% to the Liberal Party in the Senate, contributing to the reelection of Senators Birmingham, Bernardi, Ruston and Fawcett.

Importantly, these additional votes also helped to ensure that the final Senate spot went to Bob Day and Family First rather than to the Labor Party.

Serving as the Liberal Candidate for Kingston was a challenging but rewarding experience, filled with many highlights, including visits from the Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, and the now Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, the Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP. It was a privilege to announce local road projects with Senator David Fawcett and $11.6 million in new funding for drug and alcohol rehabilitation services together with the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.

good friend and campaign manager, Alex Hyde.

I can’t thank Alex enough for the way he led the Kingston team with great professionalism, sound judgement and perhaps most importantly, a good sense of humour. Whilst it is impossible to thank everyone in this short article, I also want to place on the record my appreciation of two young men

who (jokingly) competed for the

title of “#1 Campaign Volunteer” –

Jarryd Thiel and Mitchell Powell.

These guys spent at least three or

four days a week volunteering on

the campaign for a number

of months and words cannot

express how thankful I am for

their contribution to the

Kingston campaign.

I also thank our President, Steve

Murray, Senator David Fawcett and newly elected Member for Boothby, Nicolle Flint MP, for their encouragement and support throughout the campaign, and I acknowledge the hard work of our State Director, Sascha Meldrum and the staff at the Secretariat who did an outstanding job supporting all of the candidates.

And finally, I thank all of the party members in Kingston who afforded me the privilege of serving as the Liberal Candidate in 2016. I am now more passionate than ever about the Liberal cause and I look forward to having the opportunity to continue my contribution to our great party.

Kelvin Binns Liberal Candidate for Kingston 2016 Federal Election SAYLM Administration Director

During the campaign I was fortunate to have the support of many Young Liberals, including my

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Giving it everything!

Emma Godfrey reflects on her time as a Federal Candidate and how neither wedding plans nor sickness would get in her way of giving it her all for Port Adelaide.

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here is nothing quite like being a candidate for a major party at a Federal Election, and there is nothing quite like being a Liberal candidate in one of Labor’s safest seats in the country, and one that is considered one of its crowning jewels.

our policy. I did not want to let the team down nor did I want to be an embarrassing candidate.

I ensured that every day I was on top of what was happening around the country and the state, which was important when issues such as superannuation and defence were discussed.

2016 was always going to be a big year for me as in January 2015 my then fiancé, now husband, and I chose July 9th 2016 as our wedding date. And then it so happened that I was a Federal Election candidate the week before the wedding – something that I did not initially plan! However, as a lifelong Liberal, and one that has wanted to make a difference since I was ten, I could not pass up the opportunity. Even with my distinctive life circumstances though, the campaign was very different to others in SA in 2016.

The federal seat of Port Adelaide is currently affected by a lot of state issues, and helping people understand that it was State Labor, not the Federal Liberal Party, which was failing to deliver essential services, was a major campaign point.

This resonated well; however, when you see Labor closing hospitals and ignoring those who are considered their own heartland, it is heart breaking. Sadly, 25 per cent of the state’s heart attacks are in the western suburbs and state Labor and Transforming Health are planning on closing the state-of-the-art QEH cardiac wing; the people of the Port, and the western suburbs as a whole, have been let down by Labor.

The Port Adelaide campaign was very unique in that the Liberal Party had a candidate before Christmas 2015 that was not me, the eventual candidate. Unfortunately, in March 2016, that candidate withdrew for personal reasons and as such the party needed a candidate, and quickly (at the time we were awaiting the submarine announcement and the announcement on the date of the election). State Director Sascha Meldrum, knowing my interest in the seat, made contact with me and later wrote to the SEC calling on those interested to nominate. A pre-selection occurred and I became the candidate on the 30th April 2016 – exactly 9 weeks prior to polling day.

We had no time and, because of this, no finances or general polling, so we needed to run a very minimalist campaign. This meant that I needed to be present for the people but also needed to ensure that Labor and NXT were expending resources (both people and dollars) on the seat. This, in turn, meant that the campaign was highly strategic in order to benefit the party at large and other seats in the state.

Despite being a safe Labor seat, and one in which we were running a minimalist campaign, I needed to ensure I was on top of our six-point plan and

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Polling day was certainly interesting as I was almost collapsing with bronchitis, but I was determined to campaign all day and see as many locals as possible at polling booths.

If we never have another winter election it won’t be too soon – I think we were all very lucky it wasn’t raining! Most people on the ground were frustrated by the need to vote at all, however it is even harder when polling booths run out of the correct ballot papers! Our major booths were manned most – if not all – of the day, and I believe most booths were manned in the first half of the day: a real positive for the Port.

Our final numbers showed that we achieved what the Party needed us to do. We received an additional 2,970 first round Senate votes, up on 2013, and were second only to Adelaide in first preference swings in the safe South Australian Labor seats. We came

AD-Lib third to NXT by only 86 votes – a real achievement.

We also managed to secure solar grants for six community groups and black spot funding in the last six weeks of the campaign.

One thing we learn as Young Liberals is to be the workers. We are the ones on the ground fighting the fight and more often than not the ones who are the mouthpieces. More so than anything else, this campaign taught me how to control my words which, when the Maritime Union of Australia’s SA base is in your seat, it becomes more difficult than one may think. It became less about being vocal with negative comebacks, and about being factual and practical. It became a way of engaging people and being smart with communication. I was also blessed with being able to have an interview on 5AA’s morning show with Will and Dave. When the results came through, it showed that our strategy for our unique circumstances was the right call for the Party.

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Many people have asked why I chose to run in this seat, both from within the party and whilst out on the hustings. Whilst I live close to the city, something my single mum worked very hard for growing up, I have connections all over the metro area and especially down at the Port; my grandmother, and her brothers, and my great grandmother were all born and raised in Alberton. Despite being born interstate, I have deep roots all over South Australia.

I do not believe it is vital to live in your electorate as a candidate; however I do believe it makes a big difference being active in your local area. As such, during the

campaign I made a real effort to be seen at shopping

centres and railway stations in the electorate. I also

made the effort to go to any and all community events

especially where one would be seen. When you are

the candidate you need to ensure that you are

everywhere, knowing that the campaign

logistics are hopefully being handled behind the scenes.

The Port is an area that I truly care about and the demographics of the seat are slowly but surely changing, unbeknown to many. With the submarines being built at Osborne, many small schools being turned into housing estates and large areas of the Port looking at being developed (Fort Largs especially, amongst others), it is an area the party needs to monitor over the next decade.

This campaign, and this time in my life, is something I will never forget and it has resolutely taught me more about my self as a Liberal, what we truly stand for at our core – and to stand by that resolutely – and that I will fight for this party and state until I physically no longer can.

Emma Godfrey (Flowerdew) Liberal Candidate for Port Adelaide 2016 Federal Election.

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ELECTION SPECIAL

Out in force

Leighton McDonald-Stuart marvels at the Young Liberal efforts on the ground during the election campaign.

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tellar: (adjective) A description of the Young Liberal efforts in Boothby.

The election campaign leading up to July 2 was hard fought. Eight weeks long, and in the middle of winter, it easily became repetitive, draining, and not to mention drenching. Despite the temptation that exists in a long, winter campaign to sit somewhere warm and snug, Young Liberals came out in a tour de force to support Boothby candidate Nicolle Flint.

We were acutely aware of the threat posed by the Xenophon team and the personality cult that follows him. At times, it seemed like an uphill battle against the new group in SA politics. I suppose a benefit of being a minor party is that there is no pressure (or ability) to deliver on what you promise, and the next term in Parliament will certainly be a challenge for the NXT candidates that were successful.

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Thankfully Karen Hockley wasn’t, and neither was ALP candidate Mark Ward or the raft of independents and minor party candidates that ran for Boothby. If Ward’s name is familiar, it’s because he was the unsuccessful candidate at the Davenport by-election in 2015.

Upon reflection, it’s really no surprise that Nicolle was elected as the Member for Boothby. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Nicolle, she’s warm, engaging, and deeply passionate about championing South Australia, as well as embodying conservative values and policies.

Simply put, there’s no doubt that she’s by far the best candidate, and has enormous talent to bring to the Parliament.

Nicolle’s talent and promise was combined with an effective campaign ably lead by Sam Duluk MP. Immediate Past YL President Alex Hyde, AULC President Jack Newton, as well as Saffron

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Ronson and myself were just some of the Young Liberals deeply involved with Nicolle’s campaign.

The campaign was dominated by early starts, particularly in the last few weeks. Based out of our campaign office on the corner of Daws / South Rd, Young Liberals were out and about waving signs in peak hour on every major intersection in Boothby.

The overwhelmingly positive response Nicolle received while out and about was clearly reflected in the results on election day.

But the Young Liberal effort did not stop there.

40,000 houses were called over the course of the campaign, countless doors were knocked, and the electorate was letterboxed over two times.

All this work was largely done by a volunteer army of Young Liberals (as well as a few dedicated local volunteers) and on a tight budget. $248 laptops with a Skype account were about the most expensive toys we got to play with. Fundamentally, the Boothby campaign was focused on grassroots campaigning.

Despite that, the vast scale of the Boothby campaign is not to be underestimated. Nicolle’s promise, and an amazing bunch of Young Liberals (too many to mention), helped deliver a resounding result in Boothby.

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YLs during the

E L E C T I O N campaign 16

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Is a degree

worth it?

Henry Davis examines the challenges confronting today’s graduates.

A market in disequilibrium In my first class at Adelaide University my professor went around the room and asked “why are you doing a law degree?” Half the room said “because I got the grades to get in”. I said “because I am rebelling against my working class parents.” Either way, most responses were not considered.

I believe in a free market and a small government. However, I believe the government certainly has a role to play.

According to some official looking factsheet I found on the internet, one role of the government is to establish a framework for the effective operation of the market. Rules set out in the Corporations Act, enforced by agencies such as ASIC or the ACCC add to the effective operation of those markets. A government should consider regulating natural monopolies and stop anti-competitive behaviour when it surfaces. “The state also needs to make corrections when the market fails to perform.” – Official Factsheet.

From what I have seen, the market, the very bedrock of our economy, is failing, and it’s failing hard. But nothing is being done to correct it. The market for education is not reaching equilibrium. Supply of many degrees far outweighs the

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employer’s demand. Now, personally, I blame the parents….

My dad said: “don’t do a law degree” (he didn’t like lawyers), so like any rebellious teen I went and did the opposite of what he told me to do #thuglife.

Is it worth it?

Your average double degree will cost you far more than you think. The degree itself costs some $120,000 (including gov subsidies), $165,000 in opportunity cost (minimum wage for 5 years) and the emotional cost of enduring 6,240 “contact hours” 1,560hrs of lectures, 80 assignments and 40 exams, which will probably lead to an early onset of divorce and baldness. That’s some $350,000 worth of fees, lost income and counselling. And then… you get the privilege of doing a further diploma, CA or if you are scientist you will probably do a Phd. Moving towards equilibrium Universities, as a business, do not bear the burden of ensuring that the supply of graduates meets the demand of employers for qualified graduates; universities will aim to meet the demand from students for degrees. This distinction is important. The customers for the Universities are the students, not the employers. The cause of the

disequilibrium is students making sub-optimal choices.

One solution is for the government to regulate the industry and set maximum quotas for degrees or essentially make the choice for the student.

A better solution, which doesn’t cause Adam Smith (father of free market economics) to roll over in his grave, is to enable students to make better and more informed choices. This type of market interference is not uncommon for Western governments. For example: health education through the curriculum with an aim to encouraging kids to eat more fruit and vegetables and play more Pokemon Go. Now by this stage you are probably thinking… yes, I have heard all of this doom and gloom before. This is nothing new. What can be done for me?

The answer I fear is unfortunately: not much. BUT for students currently in Year 10, there are a number of steps the government can take to correct the disequilibrium.

There are three main policy changes I believe the government should implement (1) require tertiary students to undertake work experience in their chosen profession at the start of their degree (2) provide them with projected jobs data and, (3) turn them into innovators (see summer 2016 edition).

AD-Lib Test Drive Your Degree Work experience is vitally important to a graduate’s employment prospects. It allows you to find out just how terrible any given job is before you buy into a career for the next 40 years. Sure, you do work experience in Year 10 but in reality it has little to no impact when it comes to choosing a degree. In Year 10 I did work experience with an Astrophysicist and I thought that would be a good fit until I realised in Year 12 that I feared calculus more than I feared parent teacher interview nights.

Ten years later I filled out my first trust deed agreement working for a law firm specialising in tax.

Get your own clerkship?

Gaining work experience in a climate of extreme risk adversity is almost impossible.

It’s not until the last few years of your degree that companies actually start offering you placements or clerkships generally as part of their own recruitment process. My view is that the government should build bridges between the private sector and

universities and provide the insurance necessary to facilitate that work experience. I’ve got a friend who recently completed their law degree and got HDs the whole way through. Once he did a placement he realised there is no way he wanted to be a lawyer and now is applying to be a doctor. That’s one example, but many of my friends now graduated have gone off to do something completely irrelevant to their degree or have started a new degree in something they actually care about. Organising work experience is not hard. If we can do it for Year 10 students we can do it for University students without much trouble. The result is that students will spend that $350,000 on something they will actually use.

Jobs Data Depressing news articles forewarning of 75% unemployment or critical mass shortage of essential jobs like doctors or teachers is doing little to help the market adjust. If anything they are making matters worse as it encourages students to move in waves to plug the gaps. What parents and students need is projected jobs data over the next 5 years which identify the

location, demand, supply and pay levels of jobs. In the same way as online information helps me buy the best bunch of bokchoy possible, so will projected jobs data assist students to make more informed choices about their future.

Push towards equilibrium The reason for the market not correcting itself is because of the disconnect between the demand of the students for education/supply of labour, the demand of employers for qualified labour and the supply of education by universities.

This disconnect is best solved by students focusing more about their eventual supply of labour to employers and less about what course their friends got into. In my view the government can move this market towards equilibrium in a passive undogmatic way and in doing so improve Australia’s GDP, reduce the level of private sector debt and improve our standard of living as a nation.

Henry Davis is a member of the Young Liberal Policy Committee

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NO PUBLIC FUNDING FOR POLITICAL PARTIES? Luke Hanson asks the hard questions.

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id you know that the Australian Electoral Commission pays candidates for participating in Federal Elections? Candidates who receive a primary vote of above four per cent will receive a payment of $2.63 per first preference vote. Public funding provisions were brought in to encourage a diverse range of political candidates. It was thought that the availability of political funding in exchange for disclosing campaign donations

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would discourage political corruption and encourage greater participation.

Public funding at the last Federal Election cost the taxpayer $60,468,642.44. Is public funding for political campaigns effective in its aims and objectives or could it be better spent?

South Australia will have public funding at the upcoming 2018 State Election, the first time in our State’s history. Political parties will be able to receive public funding payments if they

agree to cap campaign expenditure to $4 million and disclose political donations above $5,000. Political parties would not be required by law to participate. Instead, it would be an “opt-in” system. The intention of the Bill (now passed) is to ensure transparency in the political process.

Australia has followed the lead of some American States with regards to federal electoral funding for political campaigns.

Lawrence Shepard investigated

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whether campaign spending impacted significantly upon the electoral process. He found that incumbency and the bipartisan nature of politics in Western democracies was far more likely to impact upon the voting behaviour of constituents.

Public Funding in America Australia’s public funding provisions for electoral campaigns are ‘by-and-large’ based on the Wisconsin model.

In Wisconsin the state’s electoral commission pays candidates who achieve a certain percentage of the vote if they agree to certain campaign disclosure rules. If the intention of the Wisconsin model is to bring about a ‘level playfield’ among candidates it failed:

…increasing the competitiveness of challengers who choose to run is as important as increasing the number of challengers.

Public funding systems may alter challengers’ strategic calculations at the margins by establishing realistic subsidy levels and awarding money early in the campaign, but the goal should be to insure that the electoral process is reasonably open and fair, not to make sure that incumbents lose.

Research conducted in America on similar systems to that in Australia suggests that public funding does not necessarily increase transparency. Campaign donations are only good or bad if candidates choose to be influenced by such payments.

Indeed, it was found that the presence of campaign donations on the electoral system were more ‘subtle and complex’ than clearly definable.

American researchers have concluded that the availability of public funds for political campaigns have not necessarily made elections more transparent. The only way political campaigns can be ‘vetted’, so-to-speak, is if the candidate chooses to ‘opt-into’ the system. Instead, research has found that educating potential candidates on the electoral system appears to have more of an impact in increasing the variety of candidates running in an election.

Public Funding in Germany Germany’s model for public funding is substantially different. Instead of the Bundeswahlleiter (Federal Returning Officer) paying candidates per vote they will

match declared private donations up to €3,300 at a rate of €0.38. It is a requirement that political parties participate in this process so that the political process is free and fair.

Donations of above €10,000 will not be matched by the Bundeswahlleiter but are still required by law to be declared.

Private individuals who make a political donation can apply for a tax return of €825 per donation.

On Election Day rules governing political campaigns are just as strict:

The Members of the German Bundestag shall be elected in general, direct, free, equal and secret elections. They shall be representatives of the whole people; they shall not be bound by any instructions, only by their conscience.

How to vote-cards and other electoral campaign materials on polling day are illegal. Any campaign material that could be seen as giving a citizen instructions on how-to-vote are illegal under German law.

Political parties have a degree of political freedom despite the apparent strictness. Political campaigning can begin at any time and regularly does.

However, political paraphernalia or broadcast

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AD-Lib material that might be deemed to instruct on ‘how-to-vote’ must be removed. Political advertisements cannot be broadcasted during the blackout period.

Existing electoral laws in Germany appear to favour established political parties.

Representatives from minority groups tend to still be successful in their bids despite institutional discrimination against independents and minor parties. Minority candidate success appears to have more to do with Germany’s proportional electoral system rather than the availability of federal electoral funding.

Education and knowledge of Germany’s electoral system and parliamentary process seem to be a key indicator as to whether or not a candidate will stand, compete and be successful in an election.

What Next for Australian Reform?

Research from Germany and America seems to indicate that public funding does not seem to make the political system fairer or more transparent. Further, the American public system is only transparent if candidates ‘opt-into’ the system; it isn’t compulsory.

In Germany campaign donation disclosure rules are highly regulated. Campaigns have a degree of freedom within the grounds of common decency

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about what candidates and political parties can say about each other. Strict electoral rules mean that a campaign cannot be seen to ‘instruct voters’ in their conduct. Strict campaign disclosure laws and clear campaign law seem to give political parties a degree of political freedom in Germany that is not experienced in Australia.

Australia’s public funding arrangements cost the tax payer $60,468,642.44 at the last Federal Election. Research has shown that the Wisconsin model has not been entirely successful in its aims and that the availability of political campaign funds has not made the electoral system more accessible to candidates.

Furthermore, the Wisconsin model has not necessarily made political parties more transparent in their campaign donation disclosure. A degree of legislative complexity and complex disclosure laws appear to discourage candidates from participating in elections.

Just as much such laws appear to discourage disclosure.

When the State Labor Party introduced public funding legislation for South Australian just prior to the 2014 elections the governing party used its numbers to force through reforms and inserted Part 13A into the Electoral Act 1985 (SA).

Implementation has been delayed until the 2018 election.

The Labor Party has cited the budget as a reason for not implementing reform at the last election. It is plausible that ‘budget constraints’ could be cited as a reason for delaying implementation again. Is the Labor Party trying to hide political donations in kind, i.e. a dodgy donation from a land developer? The question does need to be asked. Implementing the reforms and not opting-in world be politically disastrous for the Labor Party just before an election. Delaying implementation saves face.

Instead of public funding arrangements which are expensive and do not work, perhaps the Federal and State Liberal Parties should consider new legislative frameworks that encourage the disclosure of political donations.

Furthermore, clear, simple electoral laws could increase participation and clarify what you can and cannot do on Election Day and during the electoral campaign.

Australia’s existing electoral laws are famously clunky and opaque and local council regulation is broad in its implementation. Maybe South Australia can look at adopting the German constitutional model in the South Australian Constitution.

Luke Hanson is a member of the Young Liberal Policy Committee

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New SAYLM website Revitalising and modernising the Movement’s online presence to tackle the campaigns of the future.

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he South Australian Young Liberal Movement is proud to present its new website.

Built by our Communications Director, Rowan Thomas, the website will serve as the foundation for the Movement’s future communications activities.

The website is equipped with a suite of modern tools to bring our communications into the digital age; it can accept volunteer information, create digital petitions, post news updates, host events and take RSVPs, integrate with the latest social media channels and much more. It also outlines the Movement’s esteemed history, values, current executive team, publications and recent policy movements.

Built on the NationBuilder platform - the future of political communication - the website will equip the Movement with the ability to truly

compliment the senior party and play an important role in future digital communication.

The construction of the website was kept entirely in-house, saving the Movement over $4,000 in website construction and maintenance fees. It is simple to update and easy to understand, ensuring future Communication Directors can quickly learn the new system and become adept in its capabilities and application.

The website will also function as an email distribution network, centralising our communications and cutting down on costs and account upkeep. What’s more, the website is responsive to all screen sizes and types. From desktops, to tablets and mobile phones, the website reacts and resizes itself accordingly, ensuring a clean and smooth user-experience across all platforms.

Try it yourself! Visit www.saylm.org.au.

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FREEDOM FIGHTERS Ben Newell talks free speech, federalism, and history at the 2016 Samuel Griffith Society Conference.

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he Samuel Griffith Society’s 2016 Conference was recently held in Adelaide and was attended by some members of the SA Young Liberals. The Society was founded by the former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Sir Harry Gibbs and others and named in honour of the first Chief Justice of the High Court, Sir Samuel Griffith.

Sir Samuel was chosen as the namesake because of his stance on the High Court, which consistently supported the rights of the States over the continual expansion of powers sought by the Federal Government. Sir Samuel’s view was clearly in accordance with the intent of those who drafted our nation’s Constitution. Most of the greatest expansions in Commonwealth power over the States has occurred due to High Court decisions such as the First Uniform Tax case in 1942, the Tasmanian Dam case in 1983 and the WorkChoices case in 2006.

The objectives of the Samuel Griffith Society are: •

•

• •

to promote discussion of constitutional matters through the articulation of a clear position in support of decentralisation of power through the renewal of our federal structure, to defend the great virtues of the present Constitution against those who would undermine it in order to supplant it with a unitary state, to restore the authority of Parliament and defend the independence of the judiciary, to foster and support reform of Australia’s constitutional system to these ends.

However, the main theme of the 2016 Adelaide conference was not solely about federalism, but freedom of speech and why it is important to preserve, protect and defend this vital freedom.

The clearest argument in my mind is that without freedom of speech, no other freedom can be defended. Winston Churchill once said: “some people’s idea of [free speech] is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage”. Churchill’s view clearly points out the hypocrisy of those who wish to infringe the rights of others to freely speak their minds.

The conference had an impressive list of engaging guest speakers from fields such as politics, the judiciary, the legal profession, academia and the public service. Some of the high profile guest speakers included Tony Abbott MP, the current Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Robert French AC, the current Chief Justice of the SA Supreme Court, Christopher

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Kourakis AC, Sir David Smith and the UK columnist and free speech advocate Brendan O’Neill.

The former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott MP delivered an address which called for Section 18C to be repealed and for history to be better taught in this country. Mr Abbott was correct in noting that the current standard of history teaching in Australian schools is unsatisfactory. The major achievements of Western civilization which were once taught and understood by many are now barely taught at all in our schools. Mr Abbott said;

”If people don’t know the Bible and Gospel stories; if they haven’t read Shakespeare or Dickens; if they haven’t heard about ancient Greece and Rome; if they haven’t studied the political evolution of England; if they know little of the Great War and the struggles against Nazism and communism; how can they fully appreciate the society they live in, or deeply grasp Australian democracy, let alone the subtleties of the relationships between the different branches and levels of government?”.

Mr Abbott made a very strong point that if we do not teach the next generation of students about the achievements of Western civilization it should come as no surprise if only a few people are prepared to defend it from unfair and ill-considered attacks. A broad understanding of history puts the problems of today in a better perspective and can provide a solution to similar problems that have occurred before.

The message of the 2016 Samuel Griffith Society Conference was clear; free speech must always be defended, because even if you do not agree with what is being said you should defend to the death someone’s right to say it.

Ben Newell SAYLM Policy Vice President

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Young Liberal Ball

Saturday May 21 Adelaide Town Hall

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he Movement’s previous Social Director Laura Dickenson did a fantastic job organising the Annual Black Tie Ball at the Town Hall on May 21.

The evening was enjoyed by all the guests and special thanks to the Members and Senators who supported the evening and the YLs from interstate who attended both the day and night’s events.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Ball during the busy campaign period. We look forward to next year’s installment.

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2016 Nick Minchin

Perpetual Award

Courtney Stephens recaps the accolades awarded at the 2016 Young Liberal Ball.

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his award is named in honour of the Hon. Nick Minchin, former Liberal Senator, Cabinet Minister and Leader of the Howard Government in the Senate.

Each year the Young Liberal Executive presents the Nick Minchin Perpetual Award to a Young Liberal who has demonstrated a selfless commitment to the Young Liberals in South Australia over a prolonged period of time in the same spirit of service that Nick Minchin provided over several decades.

Past recipients of this award include Chris Browne, Heidi Girolamo, Kate Gunn, Patrick Giam and Ben Randall.

This year the award was given to Travis Munckton, who has been an active member of the South Australian Young Liberal Movement for over ten years.

Travis has served in many different roles on the SAYLM Executive and Federal Young Liberal Executive and he has represented the SA YLs at numerous Federal Councils.

coordinator, scrutineer and undertaken many other campaign related activities like letterboxing, phone canvassing and door knocking.

He has been a mentor to many YLs over the years, warmly welcoming new members to the Movement.

No task is too big or too small for Travis to lend a hand, and he is a rock that the Young Liberals have always been able to rely upon.

Travis listens to members and readily offers sensible advice that is appreciated by young and old Liberals alike.

Last year Travis was the worthy recipient of the Federal Meritorious Youth Award and we look forward to seeing his ongoing contribution to the Liberal Party of South Australia.

He is a passionate election campaigner and he has been a valuable member of multiple campaign teams. Travis has acted as polling booth

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Young Liberals of the Year This year the South Australian Young Liberal Executive awarded the Young Liberal of the Year Award to two worthy recipients at the Annual Young Liberal Ball.

Kelvin Binns

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elvin joined the Young Liberals in 2013 and has been an active member of the movement ever since.

Kelvin has attended three Young Liberal Federal Councils and represented South Australia at these events.

He put his hand up to be the Liberal candidate for the Labor-held seat of Kingston at the 2016 Federal Election and he was an exceptionally hard working candidate who the Party and YLs should be very proud of.

Kelvin is currently serving as the Administrative Director of the Movement and warmly welcomes new members. We look forward to seeing the bright future that Kelvin has in the YLs and the wider Party.

Saffron Ronson

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he second Young Liberal of the Year Award was presented to Saffron Ronson.

Saffron is a valuable role model to new members of the YLs and someone who endlessly contributes to the Liberal Party cause.

Saffron was a dedicated member of the Boothby Campaign committee and she is an active member of the Davenport SEC. She was also an

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integral member of the UniSA Liberal Club during her time at university.

During election campaigns Saffron has put up corflutes, attended shopping centre visits, door knocked, letterboxed, fundraised and was a regular phone canvasser. Most importantly, Saffron does all of these things with enthusiasm and a smile on her face.

Saffron is continuing her service to the Young Liberals by serving as the Development Director on the Executive and she is working within a small team to organise Federal Young Liberal Council that is to be held in January in Adelaide in 2017.

Congratulations Kelvin and Saffron.

Thank you for your continuing contribution to the South Australian Young Liberal Movement and Liberal Party of South Australia.

Courtney Stephens SAYLM Immediate Past State Vice President

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Young Liberal Federal Convention bid Rhys Williams reports on the SAYLM’s recent bid to host the Federal Young Liberal Convention.

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he Young Liberal Movement’s Federal Executive recently voted in favour of the South Australian Young Liberal Movement’s bid to host its next YLM Federal Convention in Adelaide. The Federal YLM Executive consists of every State and Territory Young Liberal President, a Federal President, Vice President and Treasurer, as well as several co-opted Executive roles, so it gives us great confidence that the Adelaide bid was so strongly supported.

encouraged to participate to determine the platform of policies the YLM will support through campaigns, discussion papers and lobbying within the Party. In 2016, key policies of the YLM included abolishing the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) and repealing Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Over the past four years, South Australians have been reinvigorating their engagement in the Liberal cause nationally. The increased involvement and representation of South

Adelaide’s ‘YLM FedCon 2017’ Australia’s three university Liberal Clubs within the

will be a fantastic opportunity Australian Liberal Students’ Federation has been a

for our members to engage great benefit to the SAYLM as those Liberal Club

with Young Liberals from members have taken up Liberal Party membership

across Australia and will over time.

be held 27-29 January.

The interest our members have shown in the

The YLM has a strong activities of the YLM is a large factor in the strong

focus on Federal support for YLM FedCon 2017 to be hosted in

policies and the Adelaide.

conference will

include robust The conference will include policy debates and

policy debates attendees will hear from speakers on a range of

where all topics. There will also be a number of large social

Young events, including a gala dinner at the State Library

Liberals on Saturday 28 January, and all members and

are supporters of the Young Liberal Movement are encouraged to attend.

I hope you will all join us to make Adelaide’s YLM FedCon 2017 a great success!

Rhys Williams SAYLM State Vice President

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2016 Convention & Polly Waffle Cup

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n 21 May the Executive hosted Young Liberals for the State Convention and the Polly Waffle Cup debating competition at CLF House.

Previous Policy Vice-President Leighton McDonald-Stuart, with the help of his Policy Committee, worked on this event for months and the day was a great success.

We heard from excellent speakers including new Victorian Senator James Paterson, YL Federal President Claire Chandler and IPA Policy Director and former YL Federal President Simon Breheny.

The Policy committee produced a variety of policies for discussion at the convention and

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many YLs contributed to the lively policy debates throughout the day.

Unfortunately, the Young Liberals were not successful in winning the Polly Waffle Cup this year.

Claire Hale, Henry Davis and Henry Blacketer did their very best with a very difficult topic to be on the affirmative side of.

Sam Duluk MP, Michelle Lensink MLC and Vincent Tarzia MP debated like the professional debaters they are and manage to convince the audience that Unions are basically terrible.

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New South Australian Young Liberal Movement

Honorary Life Members Stephan Knoll MP and Dan Cregan were awarded SAYLM Honorary Life Membership on Friday 15 July 2016 at the Young Liberal AGM.

Stephan Knoll MP

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tephan served the SAYLM as Treasurer in 2009/10, Policy Vice President 2010/11 and then President of the Movement in 2011/12.

In 2009 he was awarded SA Young Liberal of the Year and in 2012 Stephan received the Liberal Party Meritorious Youth Award.

Stephan is now the hardworking Member for Schubert and still supports the Young Liberals in numerous ways, including attending functions, mentoring enthusiastic Young Liberals and donating wine from the beautiful electorate of Schubert.

He is a role model to many young people who are interested in politics and his passion for his local community, family and the Liberal cause are commendable.

Stephan is a great friend to the SAYLM and he is always available to listen and lend advice.

We look forward to Stephan’s continued involvement and guidance within the SAYLM and thank him for his support to date.

Dan Cregan

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an Cregan joined the Liberal Party because his political hero, Charles Hawker, had been a Liberal. Hawker’s sister founded a scholarship in his name at Adelaide University and Dan won this scholarship which put him through university.

While studying at Adelaide University Dan involved himself in the University Liberal Club and student affairs, serving twice as a director of the University Union, as President and Secretary of the Law Students’ Society, as Treasurer of the St Mark’s College Club and as a member of various other clubs and societies.

After studying at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, Dan worked for Allens Linklaters and served in various roles in the Party including State Young Liberal President, Policy Vice President, on State Executive, as a member of the Federal Policy Committee and in various branch and State Council delegate positions.

One of Dan’s key achievements in the YLs was democratising the Movement, allowing every Young Liberal in the state to vote for the President.

Dan was a Senior Associate with Allens Linklaters in Sydney until 2015 when he returned to South Australia. He is now involved in the Kavel SEC, Mayo FEC, Rural and Regional Council and he still takes a keen interest in the SAYLM, offering valuable support and guidance.

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AD-Lib Spring 2016 Election Edition