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August 17, 2025 13 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twenty eight ten five A on this Monday morning. The
Liberal state politics has taken on a new look with
the recruitment of an old face Uphouse member, Frank Pangalo
is changing his stripes.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
A lot of my colleagues in the Upper House, before
I made this decision, were talking to me about what
I would be doing at the next election, and even
suggesting that I actually had a good chance of sneering
an independent seat in the Upper House. It's very difficult
for an independent, particularly one that doesn't have the enormous

(00:35):
funding that others now had. Because of the common job
that the Premier has gone South Australia with his political
donations back, people will not realize the implications of that
until after the next election. No, and look after I've
been doing. I like my job and I like representing

(00:55):
the people in South Australia, so nothing's going to change
about me.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Frank Pangatto speaking on the five double A Breakfast this
morning about the change in his political career. The former
journalist began in politics in twenty eighteen. He's now going
to contest the Southern Suburbs seat of Wait for Liberals.
What are we to make of this latest political incantation
five double as owned. Stacy Lee joins me. Now, Stacy,
good morning to you, Allo Graham. How are you look.

(01:22):
I'm very well. Thanks. Does this shock you at all?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
I was surprised when I saw the news, and then
I thought about it a bit more and I wasn't
surprised when I saw the news. I think Frank would
have had a tough time getting re elected in the
Upper House, as he just alluded to there, because he
was with Essay Best under the Nick Xenophon banner when
he got elected seven years ago, and so he doesn't

(01:47):
have the support of a party, the financial support or
the backing of a big name like Nick Xenophon this
time round. And it's a pretty crowded field of independence
in the Upper House now after Tammy Franks left the Greens,
if she decides to run again, you might have Connie
Binaris from Essay Best running again. There's also Jingle who
left a Liberal party who will be running again. You
don't know who else is putting their hand up. Stephen Polaris,

(02:09):
former DPP, has put his hand up to run as
an independence. So it's a pretty crowded field. And usually
when it's a crowded field of independence who don't have
a whole lot of funding behind them. You know, they
sort of drown each other out, and it's unlikely that
all of them or many of them will get elected.
So I think he would have struggled on his own.

(02:30):
I think it would help having the Liberal Party brand
behind him, and I actually think it would help the
Liberal Party to have Frank on board. I'm just not
sure Weight is the seat to do it in. I
know he lives there and has lived there for you know,
almost his whole life for I think more than thirty years,
he said. But I'm just not sure the electors in
Wait want or need someone like Frank Pangelo. It's a

(02:52):
pretty it was a safe Liberal seat, however, when Sam
deluc former Liberal, quit the party as an independent, and
then at the last election it went to the Labor Party.
It's on a pretty small margin, about four percent, and
I think after the redistribution from the Electoral Distributions Committee,

(03:12):
it'll be one of Labour's most marginal seats on just
over three percent. And this is so look, it is
a marginal one for Labor, but I'm not sure Frank's
the guide to win it back. From labor.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
To be honest, the cynic would suggest that Frank is
just trying to prolong his political career. Would that be unfair?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, I think it would be unfair. I think a
lot of people want to prolong their career, no matter
what career they're in, no matter what industry they're in.
If you're asking me about whether or not he's the
future of the Liberal Party, though, I don't think so.
I mean, Graham, you and I have spoken about this before,
and about the Liberal Party's election loss just this year
in the federal election, and the voters that the Liberal

(03:54):
Party abandoned, namely women, migrants, young people, And I mean
this is no offense to Frank. I get along really
well with him. I worked with him for a number
of years at Channel seven. The Liberal Party has been
criticized by myself and many other commentators for being a
bit pale, male and stale. Is Frank the guy to
reinvigorate the state Liberal Party? I don't think so. And

(04:18):
he's up against a pretty popular, young, younger labor woman
and Catherine Hutchison, So I'm not too sure that the
voters in Wait will support Frank and his style of politics.
He came out yesterday when he announced he was running
and with the nickname the Watchdog. Now I was questioning that.
Do you think he gave himself that.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Nickname knowing Frank. Yes, yes, I think Frank might have
thought it might be a good name. Look, did you
see the vision of the launch last night? Yeah? I
did with Vincentasier, and three times Vincentazia tried to shake
Frank's hand. And I don't know who was deliberate or
just accidental, or just one of these things. But each

(05:00):
time Frank turned the other way shook someone else's hand,
and Vincent Tarsi was standing there looking very embarrassed by it.
It was a very, very awkward situation.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
It was it was very or Look, he was on
the Brecky Show this morning, as you just played one
of his grubs. He said it was a beat up
and you know, he wasn't avoiding the leader or ignoring
the leader. I know when I saw it, I thought
the same thing. I thought, well, this is strange. Why
isn't he shaking Tarzi's hand. If he wins the seat,
Tarsi will be his boss. And I think one of

(05:33):
the big questions at the press conference are you going
to be let off the leash or will you have
to change your politics and your style of politics? And
there was another awkward interaction where Frank sort of turned
around to Vincent said well, what do you think and
then he turned back around and almost before Vincent Tarzi
had a chance to answer, and he said, no, I'll
be let loose. I'm pretty free.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
And I thought, oh this.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
I don't know how this will play out in the
party room and in the electorate. I don't know if
the people of Wait, as I say, it's it's a
pretty safe liberal seat. It's also very a lot of
the voters there have a focus on environmental factors because
it's in the foothills. They have a huge uptake of
solar We know the Mitcham Council and Heather Holmes Ross
the mayor who she actually ran as an independent in

(06:15):
the last state election. They've got a fact a big
focus on environmental issues and the people of weight seem
to really respond to that, well most of them anyway,
the way they voted at the last election and on council.
And so I don't know if Frank's the guy to
win the seat back. We also will have to consider

(06:35):
who else might run, because, as I say, it was
a pretty hotly contested seat at the last election. Labor
won it, but there was Sam Delok who ran as
an independent. There was Alex Hyde who ran for the
Liberal Party. Heather Holmes Ross, the current mayor of mitcham
ran as an independent, so it might be a crowded
field again. The Greens think they have a chance at
winning it because it's one of those foothills seats that

(06:57):
they're targeting, like Heysen and more so.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
To be in Melbourne Cupfield. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
And when that happens, I think that benefits the Labor Party.
If there's too many independents and too many people running
a lot of those preferences from the Greens and potential
independence will flow through to Labor and I think that
they'll they'll win it again if that does happen. But
you know, stranger things have happened.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
One thing that has to be said about Frank Pangalo.
He's always outspoken, he speaks his mind. What's his history
with either voting with or against Liberals? Yeah, that was.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
Really interesting because I've heard his speeches, I've read the
handsiard of his speeches, in Parliament, and I think I
thought he was a pretty fair independent. I thought he
had a go at both sides of politics, particularly in
the earlier years of him in parliament, the earlier years
of his eight year term. More recently he's voted with
the Liberals a little bit more on the UNI merger,

(07:53):
and I know he's been very outspoken about the livgolf
legislation and obviously he had the it from his former
essay best colleague Connie Banaris, and Connie Banarus has voted
with the Labor Party on a few of those high
profile matters that he's voted with the Liberal Party on,
so that's why they had a difference of opinion there.
But he's been critical of the Liberal Party. He's been

(08:15):
critical of Vincent Tasia. So I wouldn't have if you
would ask me maybe three months ago, which side of
politics do you think Frank sits on? I would have
said he's probably sitting exactly where he should be on
the cross bench, because he seems to be quite in
the middle, quite fair, and you know, gives it to
whatever party he thinks he deserves it. But now, yeah,
he won't be doing that anymore.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Does this highlight more where the Liberal Party is that
it appears to be raddless at the moment, a little directionless.
If it was a strong opposition, do you think there'd
be a place for Frank Pangala.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think you're totally right, Graham. I think they do
need a bulldog. They do need someone who's going to
come in and criticize the Labor Party because that used
to be Vincent Tasia. But you can't have the leader
be that person. So they do need someone who's going
to be strong and outspoken and be able to give
it to the government. But yeah, like I said, I

(09:09):
don't think this is the future of the party, and
I think you're right. I think it does tell a
lot about the leadership of the party at a party level.
This is both state and federal that they're pre selecting
people like Frank in these seats because they aren't attracting
younger people to their party. They can't get these fresh voices,

(09:30):
fresh opinions. The average age of someone in weight is
forty three. That was the last ABS data, And I'm
just not sure that style of politics resonates with that
demographic of people who are you know, probably having kids,
maybe just got into the property market, maybe trying to
get into the property market paying off houses working professionals.
I don't know if the bulldog style of politics resonates

(09:53):
with people in that electorate.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
So yeah, we'll probably know it about nine months time
at the state of exactly why I've got you, what
are you making of the premier's handling of the algol
crisis at the moment, Because if there are any chinks
in his armor, it's ramping and this algal bloom has
caused a lot of unrest in the community.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, it absolutely has, and rightly so. I saw a
US expert was calling it one of the worst algol
blooms from across the world. So it's not just a
national issue anymore. Look, I think you and I can
both agree. We were talking about the algol bloom long
before we heard the premier talk about the algol bloom.
So he was really slow to get onto this. You

(10:37):
can tell he's trying to make up for it now.
It's like when one of those runners starts the race
really slow and then they try and okay quick, I've
got to give it all the energy I can for
the finish line, and they still don't cross the finish
line in the top three, and I don't think i'd
rate the Premiere in the top three. In his response
to this, he started off, well, non existent. We didn't
hear from him, We couldn't hear from the government, We

(10:58):
didn't couldn't hear from anyone.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
In Sadi or Persa.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
The only person I could get on my show a
few months ago was someone from Essay Health to talk
about potential health implications. So I have to give them credit.
They were the only ones who would stump up and
talk to us from a government department. So I think
this is really going to have a big impact for
the Premiere and the Labor Party at the next election.
But as you say, there's still nine months ago. A

(11:22):
lot can happen between between now and then. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
I mean, one point that I've been making is that
I think we would have heard a lot more from
the Premier attacking the approach for Canberra, but because they're
on the same party. If it had been a coalition
government in Canberra, I think there would have been screaming
from North Terrace that would have been heard in Canberra,
loud and long. But he was muted and basically until
the middle of last month. That was the first time

(11:46):
he approached Canberra.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Absolutely, and interestingly you mentioned the other big issue for
the State Labor Party is ramping. It's a similar story
we've got. I think it's still more than two hundred
people waiting for aged places in South Australian hospitals, which
is contributing to the ramping crisis. But we're not really
hearing a whole lot about that from the state government
because it's a federal labor exactly. Yeah, if it was

(12:12):
a federal liberal government, we'd be hearing a lot from
Peter Malinowskis about how this needs to be handled and quickly.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
It's interesting times ahead. Look, Stacy, thank you for giving
us your time because we know you're on maternity leave
at the moment. How's young Molly going.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
Oh, she's great, Graham. I can hear her waking up
in the room from her nap as we speak, but
she's going very well. She moved into her own room
last night actually, so we had a couple extra hours,
which was lovely. So I feel like I have half
a brain to be able to talk to you today.
But no, she's doing really well. She's she's almost at
two months and she's smiling and interacting a bit more

(12:49):
and she's a very happy, healthy girl, which is ye.
It's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Well, Stacey, it's lovely to speak with you and enjoy
the rest of your maternity leave and we can't wait
for you to get back on five double A. Thanks
gig to say we certainly will Sticy leave
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