Former SA opposition leader's move to cabinet shores up Jay Weatherill and ends doubt about Labor not lasting a full term

Liberal members across the country were shocked on Tuesday with the announcement that one of their own, the former South Australian Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith, had defected to Labor.



Shoring up a government that had already stunned the political arena by stealing the unwinnable SA election in March, the member for Waite accepted a cabinet position as an independent Liberal and put an end to any doubt that Labor would last the full term.



The premier, Jay Weatherill, facing a hung parliament of 23 seats to the Liberals’ 22, had already outfoxed the opposition in the days following the election by securing a deal with independent Geoff Brock to hand him a cabinet position and bolster Labor’s numbers to the required 24.



But it would take just one MP to fall sick or resign and a byelection could be forced.



With Hamilton-Smith having proved his ability to work on a bipartisan level during successful trade missions overseas, a deal was in the making and one that has now given Weatherill a steady buffer with 25 votes in the House of Assembly.



But Hamilton-Smith’s resignation from the Liberals has not been taken lightly.



Amid accusations of "betrayal" and "treachery" from the state opposition leader, Steven Marshall, and the federal Liberal minister Christopher Pyne, his electorate office has been vandalised, talkback radio has served up a backlash, and a suite of former colleagues have used the media to berate him.



Hamilton-Smith has warned former colleagues to drop their personal attacks or face an avalanche of dirt about years of treachery and betrayal in the South Australian Liberal party. He told The Australian police had spoken to his wife, Stavroula Raptis, about security measures at the family home.

“Of course I am concerned about my family’s safety,” Mr Hamilton-Smith said.

The University of Adelaide politics department senior lecturer Professor Clement Macintyre said the former opposition leader's decision to quit the party was a "kick in the face" for the Liberals.

He called it a rejection of the strategy they took to the last election and a rejection of the capacity for Marshall to turn their prospects around over the next four years.



"The danger now is the Liberals will go after him and play the man and not the ball," Macintyre said.



"They need to keep him under the pump, undermine any confidence he has in the portfolio, but they cannot allow it to become their primary focus.



"They need to concentrate on keeping the government to account and propose some alternative, constructive policies."



Macintyre said the federal Liberal party would be "grinding its teeth", having already watched the state party win the majority vote in March (44.8% to Labor’s 35.8%) yet fail to win the seats that mattered.



But for Hamilton-Smith, it was an opportunity to serve the state after years of disappointment.



The former Australian Special Air Service regiment commander had already spent 12 long years in opposition, with just three months as a cabinet minister as far back as late 2001-02, and two years as leader from 2007-09.

The prospect of another four years in opposition was too much for a man lauded for his ideas and widely considered to be a statesman among trade and business communities.

Earlier this year as the Liberal party approached the election with a polling margin of 54%, Hamilton-Smith reportedly pushed for its agenda to be more assertive with an emphasis on policy.

But he remained outside Marshall's engine room with little influence on agenda, after losing a leadership bid by one vote in 2012 to the former leader Isobel Redmond and being denied a deputy position with Marshall when Redmond resigned.

Macintyre says that after being a dutiful and loyal participant in a losing campaign for a fourth consecutive election, and realising at 60 he was probably past the point he could stand for another four years in the next election in 2018, Hamilton-Smith decided it was "now or never".

"When Labor came talking to him about joining their ministry I feel he was probably flattered, but I do think he’s genuine when he says he accepted the position because he felt he could make a difference and leave the state in a better position," he said.

The premier pulled off a "blinder" by recruiting the former soldier, Macintyre says, "taking away the opposition’s best player and adding him to his side".

It also brought additional insurance to Weatherill’s leadership after he had to fend off a challenge to his authority from Labor’s right faction just weeks before the election when the federal senator and factional right powerbroker Don Farrell put his hand up to for preselection in the safe Labor seat of Napier.

Weatherill personally brokered the agreements with Hamilton-Smith and Brock outside the usual Labor channels, meaning if his leadership was toppled those agreements would be compromised as well.

The premier would also have been been attracted to Hamilton-Smith’s glowing reputation in the defence sector and business community.

Holden’s imminent closure in 2017 is expected to cause 1,600 direct job losses in SA and an estimated 7,000 indirect job losses, but an expanded defence industry is key to the government’s response.

Hamilton-Smith’s spokesman, Ben Page, says the ex-soldier has a great number of contacts that would be of use to the state government after serving in the Australian Defence Force for nearly 20 years.

"You can’t go to a defence industry meeting without him citing old class mates," he said.

"Some of his friends are key figures in that industry. And obviously Martin’s long-standing relationship with the federal minister for defence, David Johnson, will be important, especially in the run-up to the defence white paper, which is due by March next year."

Page added that having an independent Liberal onboard could help Labor negotiate with a hostile Coalition on a number of issues.

Business SA’s chief executive officer, Nigel McBride, said Hamilton-Smith’s appointment would be welcomed by the business community.

He was seen as one of the better performers among the Liberals and was considered a "doer, rather than a talker".

McBride said it was understandable that there would be political recriminations for Hamilton-Smith’s move, but having a person that was pro-business and pro-defence in Cabinet was a good thing for SA.

"He’s not joining the Labor party or accepting their policies. He’s bringing his skill set in specific areas to try and set a blueprint for economic growth."

The state government now faces an extremely turbulent month when it releases its budget on 19 June.

Weatherill warned on Monday that it had already suffered a write-down of $898mn over the forward estimates as a result of the Coalition’s proposed cuts.

The premier will need all the help he can get.