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Liberals set to take power in SA: Poll

A last minute verbal gaffe from would-be premier Steven Marshall will not stop the Liberals seizing power tomorrow, according to an exclusive 7News Reachtel poll.

At a confectionery manufacturer in Adelaide today, Mr Marshall was asked whether he had spoken to other Liberal candidates about the need to avoid making mistakes when polls showed the party was so close to victory.

"I think the entire team has been very focused, very disciplined, very hard-working in this campaign," Mr Marshall responded.

"It's been gruelling, there's no doubt about it, but we're only a few short hours now away from when the polls open and I think if people in South Australia want change, they want a better future, they want to grow our economy, then they need to vote Labor tomorrow."

He was then asked to clarify if he had just said South Australians should vote for Labor if they wanted to grow the economy.

"No, we need to be voting Liberal tomorrow if we want to grow the economy," he said.

But his slip-up is unlikely to affect the overall result.

An exclusive 7News Reachtel poll of 1231 voters across South Australia still shows a 55-45 per cent Liberal margin, the same as a month ago.

It suggests seven seats could change hands, giving the Liberals a two-seat majority.

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Liberals set to take power in SA: Poll

By Andrew DarbyMarch 15, 2014, 1 p.m.

The Liberal Party was within grasp of its first majority government in Tasmania for 18 years on Saturday - as Labor admitted it faced a hard task of keeping voter interest.

The Liberal Party was within grasp of its first majority government in Tasmania for 18 years on Saturday - as Labor admitted it faced a hard task of keeping voter interest.

The Liberals were last in power for two years in minority backed by the Greens from 1996 to 1998, and this time party leader Will Hodgman warned against a repetition of any power-sharing arrangement.

"The thought of another Labor-Green government with a tinge of Palmer United thrown in is a frightening prospect as far as I'm concerned," Mr Hodgman said after he voted in central Hobart.

However the 44-year-old former lawyer, son of the late Liberal veteran Michael Hodgman, is favoured to take the party to power in its own right, with opinion polls indicating a majority of one to three seats in the 25 seat House of Assembly.

EMRS, ReachTEL and Newspoll surveys all pointed to the majority, with Labor falling back to six or seven seats in the 25 seat House of Assembly, the Greens likely to keep four seats, and the PUP an outside chance at a single seat.

The change would end four successive terms of Labor-led government, a stretch that premier Lara Giddings said had left her with mixed emotions.

"It's difficult when you've been in power for 16 years to capture the imagination, and you must work off your record," Ms Giddings said.

Ms Giddings denied she felt an air of inevitability about defeat.

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Liberals head for victory in Tasmanian state election

By DOUG DINGWALLMarch 14, 2014, 1 a.m.

THE Liberals have ruled out using forced redundancies to reduce the public service as part of its plan to make $512million in savings over four years if in government.

THE Liberals have ruled out using forced redundancies to reduce the public service as part of its plan to make $512million in savings over four years if in government.

Reducing the public service's size is a key part of the party's plans to find savings to fund $399 million in spending.

Shadow treasurer Peter Gutwein said the Liberals would ask departments to find roles that did not need refilling once a staff member resigned.

Mr Gutwein said only bureaucratic or administrative roles would be targeted.

He said no frontline positions, including doctors, nurses, teachers or police, would be affected.

"There will be no forced redundancies. No one will be sacked," he said.

Mr Gutwein said the Liberals would aim for a 1 per cent reduction in the public service's workforce size each year for its first two years in government.

The Liberals say across four years this would make $155million in savings.

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There will be no forced redundancies: Liberals

Wars of words have begun in the seven competitive races for the Dane County Board of Supervisors, as candidates set themselves apart from their opponents in the lead-up to Election Day on April 1.

Non-incumbent candidates in two other races are running unopposed, and four incumbents are stepping down. Supervisors Dianne Hesselbein, Melissa Agard Sargent, Kurt Schlicht and Erika Hotchkiss filed non-candidacy papers in December.

Among the slew of perennial issues facing the board, the next class of supervisors will grapple with several dynamic issues, ones with far-reaching implications. Up in the air are whether to build a new jail, where to build a $600,000 day shelter for the homeless and how to reel in the county's $250 million in debt.

To the chagrin of conservatives, these decisions will land squarely in the hands of the board's liberal wing, whose current super-majority could grow by six more seats.

Of all nine races, District 21 is perhaps the most closely watched, as labor attorney Andy Schauer launches an energetic challenge to David Wiganowsky, the board's 10-term conservative stalwart.

Barring a successful write-in candidate, Paul Nelson, running unopposed, will replace Hesselbein in the District 9 seat. Michele Ritt, also running unopposed, will replace Sargent in the District 18 seat.

Both Hesselbein and Sargent were elected to the state Assembly in 2012. Like their predecessors, Nelson and Ritt are left of center politically.

Below are overviews of the seven competitive races, what issues the candidates feel should be board priorities, why they believe they're the one for the job, and what distinguishes them from their opponent.

District 5

UW-Madison student Chris Hoffman aims to unseat fellow political science major and one-term incumbent Leland Pan. Both men, 21, say they are the best choice to represent students on the board.

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Liberals could pick up six seats in 2014 Dane County Board races

By Andrew DarbyMarch 14, 2014, 6:08 a.m.

Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgman is closing on majority government at Saturday's election after 16 years in opposition, as the electorate turns away from Labor Premier Lara Giddings.

Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgman is closing on majority government at Saturday's election after 16 years in opposition, as the electorate turns away from Labor Premier Lara Giddings.

Polling by EMRS and ReachTEL over the past two months consistently showed a likely Liberal majority in the 25-seat House of Assembly.

The latest Newspoll result released on Thursday had the Liberals on 53 per cent statewide.

Tasmania's front-running Liberals are said to have copied their first post-election priority in government directly from the playbook of Queensland LNP Premier Campbell Newman.

But the copycat policy is emerging as a test of Mr Hodgman's credentials after the campaign was marked by sustained attacks from Labor and Greens over his ability to stand up for the state.

Mr Hodgman's First 100 Days Implementation Plan copies the Queensland Premier's First 100 Days Action Plan in form - and in its most crucial commitment.

Mr Newman promised in 2012 on the first day ''to issue a whole-of-government 4 per cent unemployment target as the underpinning principle of policy''.

Mr Hodgman promised in the first week to ''issue a whole-of-government directive to make reducing the unemployment rate to the national average the government's number one priority''.

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Tasmanian Liberals poised to win state election