Visit here on Saturday for blog updates on the South Australian election, with a special focus on country seats, and live commentary from 6pm SA time.

Menzies was Prime Minister from 1939-41 and 1949-66.

Mitchell writes how a car ramp was installed between the Heatley and Harris Stands at Princes Park for Menzies’ Bentleigh.

The ramp was always up about 20 minutes before game time and as the time approached for Sir Robert’s arrival, people would be looking over their shoulders wanting his tinted-window black Bentleigh drive up that ramp to give Sir Robert and his wife, Dame Pattie, a view of the game above the crowd. As the minutes ticked by, there would always be a sense of apprehension and excitement. Apprehension because we didn’t want him to miss the game – or worse – and excitement that he had arrived safely and we could all get on with supporting the Mighties who were a fantastic team in those glory years. There was always a cheer when the Bentleigh drove up and it was universal. Labor and Liberal supporters forgetting their political differences and being united by the arrival of the club’s number one ticket holder and a true Carlton man.

I don’t normally quote such a long extract, but Mitchell captured the scene so well.

I saw it once. I can’t remember the date or even the year. Dad barracked for Carlton and took me to a few games at Princes Park in 1976 and 1977 before Menzies died.

It must have been one of those games at which Menzies arrived in his Bentleigh. Dad didn’t like Menzies, but I gained the impression he had a grudging respect for him as a Carlton supporter.

I was proud of Kathleen earlier this week when she showed some excellent initiative.

The police put out a missing person alert for a 14-year-old girl, saying they had concerns for her safety. I saw the police media release on Monday morning.

Later that morning, the high school rang me to say Kathleen might need to be interviewed by police; did she have my permission?

On her way to school by bus, Kathleen and her friend saw the missing girl being pulled into a car. They reported that to the school and the police were informed. The girls even recorded the car’s registration number.

It turned out the police didn’t need to interview Kathleen and the missing girl was found safe and well. It might have been her family that Kathleen saw.

Nevertheless, it was good observation skills to notice and good citizenship to report what they saw.

A reminder that I will be providing election blog updates and live commentary here.

Labor held the seat from 1958-75 and the town has a large number of working class voters and people on welfare.

Rory McEwen’s retirement opened the door for a popular, well-known Labor contender to give it a real shake.

That’s not disrespectful of candidate Viv Maher, whose Labor credentials are impeccable. I rather had in mind a community/business person being recruited from outside the party to stand.

A sporting identity or self-employed tradesman might have had broader electoral appeal.

Looking at some of the booth figures from the 2006 election, the Labor vote in the township of Mount Gambier was between 22 and 28 percent. The best was 27.7pc at Mount Gambier East.

At the 2007 Federal Election, Labor polled 47.23pc of the primary vote at Mount Gambier East and won the two-party preferred vote with 56.57pc.

It was a similar story at Mount Gambier North, with 43.38pc of primary votes, 55.54pc two-party preferred.

These are large booths and offset the Liberal bias in rural areas.

But even in Glencoe, for example, Labor polled 31.91pc at the federal poll (41.71 2pp) compared with 15.3pc at the state election in 2006.

The state results are skewed by having an independent MP (Rory McEwen), who is now retiring.

McEwen’s retirement created the opportunity for Labor to convert its promising federal result into state votes.

Even with a high-profile independent candidate (Don Pegler) the opportunity was still there.

Pegler is running a split ticket on Saturday, which means he is giving his supporters a choice of supporting Labor or Liberal with their second preference.

I expect the Liberals to get about 70pc of Pegler’s preferences if they are distributed.

With a gun Labor candidate, a winning scenario for the ALP might have been: Labor 38, Liberal 30, Independent 22, others 10.

Clearly if the Liberal and Labor figures were reversed, Liberal would win. However, we will never know, because Labor is more likely to poll about the same it did at the last state election (22pc).

Independent Don Pegler will need to finish ahead of Labor to win. To achieve that he will have to go close to replicating McEwen’s primary vote of 35pc, and personally I can’t see that happening.

Isobel Redmond and Karlene Maywald

Redmond was reported in The Australian saying:

“For the last term of the government, she’s been a member of the Labor government. I think it’s disingenuous to then try to paint herself as a National, when in fact she had to divorce the state Nationals here from the rest of the Nationals around the country since mostly they were in coalition with Liberals.”

When Maywald challenged her to a debate, Redmond replied: “I don’t debate candidates — I’m the Leader of the Opposition, I’ll debate the Premier.”

Maywald has consistently said she’ll support the government of the day, and in the event of a hung parliament she’ll support the party that offers the best deal for regional South Australia.

Given the Liberals have adopted the Nationals’ “royalties for regions” policy as their own, and Maywald has symbolically directed her own preferences to the Liberals, one might have expected Redmond’s rhetoric to be more friendly.

The Liberals may well need one or two extra votes to form government, and in ordinary circumstances, Maywald would be the first person they seek to enlist.

I disagreed with Maywald remaining in Cabinet when Labor didn’t need her vote. She knows my view, because we spoke at the “balance of power” forum last year.

I believe minor parties should only accept ministries when they hold the balance of power.

Karlene’s view, which I respect, is that she can achieve more for her electorate as a minister. Given the significance of water policy to her electorate, that’s a valid argument.

I counter it by saying she is the Nationals leader and has a responsibility to all of regional South Australia that would be better served from the cross benches.

It’s a circular discussion and there is no right answer.

What’s driving Redmond, I suppose, is her genuine desire for victory in Chaffey and Flinders to enhance her prospects of forming a majority government.

The Labor vote is unlikely to pass 15 percent in either seat, where the real contest is between Liberal and National.

However, Redmond should study what happened in Western Australia before escalating her anti-Maywald rhetoric.

Liberal leader Colin Barnett basically ignored the Nationals during the 2008 election campaign. He refused to negotiate preferences and effectively ruled out Brendon Grylls’ ambitious royalties policy. But his manner was one of indifference, rather than aggression.

It left the door open for talks when the outcome was a hung parliament.

Karlene Maywald probably doesn’t feel too well disposed towards the Liberals just now, as she fights for her political survival.

However, I suspect she will be true to her word and do what’s best for Chaffey if she holds the balance of power after March 20.

Maggie initially thought she had swallowed the tooth while eating an orange, but the tiny little thing was discovered, much to her relief because she now hopes to cash it in for $2.

I blogged about the Tooth Fairy in 2005 and how Kathleen still expected payment five years ago, aged 11, when she knew it wasn’t true.

It’s nice to know inflation hasn’t raised the $2 trade fee.

As the only grower in the district he has to organise his own cool storage, distribution and marketing.

There have been many reports commissioned, proclaiming the potential of the South East as a horticultural district, but not much has actually been done to make it happen.

I might comment more on that later.

Meanwhile, this post is about the so-called “quality control” issues with fruit and vegetable production.

I read elsewhere that buyers reject many bananas because they are not yellow enough. A slight bruise or too green and they’re rejected, regardless of their edibility.

Wholesale buyers are very fussy about quality issues with peas.

He said 80 percent of his first trial crop was rejected for various quality reasons, many of which he believed occurred in transport.

Buyers expect the stem to be fully removed from the pod, but in doing so, pickers can inadvertently bruise the fruit (although botanically a fruit, it is treated as a vegetable in cooking).

A slight mark on the pod and it would be rejected.

I commented how consumers aren’t that fussy about peas, surely, and the grower agreed.

But wholesalers can be particularly picky, especially when supply is good and the market is effectively a monopoly.

I think it’s a terrible shame that so much food goes to waste.

One idea is that the former Mount Schank meatworks could be converted into a cold storage area and processing facility for frozen vegetables.

It just needs some political will and commercial vision.

Earlier, I had read an epic post by Dina about murderer and bigamist Frederick Deeming. I had a vague notion there was some connection between Deeming and Kalgoorlie, which prompted my macabre search and discovery.

I’m yet to establish Deeming’s link with Kalgoorlie, if any, but the list of condemned individuals threw up a surprise mention of Mount Gambier.

Robert Nugent (age unknown/white)
Murder victim: Harry Edmond Pearce – committed on 17 May 1881 – sentenced on 21 October 1881.

Police Trooper Harry Edmond Pearce was assaulted and stabbed during the arrest of Robert Nugent (alias Robert Johnston) on 17 May 1881, who had been charged with supplying liquor to Aborigines. Pearce died of his wounds, and Nugent was charged with murder. He stood trial at the Naracoorte Circuit Sessions, was found guilty and sentenced to death on 21 October 1881. Nugent was hanged at Mount Gambier gaol at 8am on 18 November 1881.

Old Mount Gambier Gaol

The State Library of South Australia reveals that Carl Jung was executed at Mount Gambier in November 1871 for the murder of a sheriff’s officer at Mount Gambier.

The Old Mount Gambier Gaol is currently a backpackers’ accommodation facility. According to its website, three men were executed there in the late 1800s. I can’t identify the third from web sources.

The heritage-listed gaol was built in 1866 and housed prisoners until 1995. The accommodation lease is due to expire on September 30, 2010.

The council has flagged it will not renew the lease and is canvassing public opinion on how the historic precinct might be used in the future.

I’d like to see it become a museum.

According to the commission’s website, the letter is meant to be sent from Monday, March 15 to all electors.

A total of 1,092,762 South Australians are enrolled to vote.

At the standard postage rate of 55 cents a letter, that’s a mail-out cost of $601,019 plus printing, maybe a million dollars altogether, even if the postage was discounted.

It’s unnecessary expenditure, in my opinion.

However, the letter contained two new pieces of information.

The electoral commission has established an SMS reminder service, where people can register for a free reminder to vote.

Again, I say this is an unnecessary expense. You’d have to be living under a rock in the Simpson Desert to not realise there is an election next Saturday.

It’s like some organisations adopt technology for the sake of it, simply because they can and they think they should. I can’t see any strategic communications benefit in providing this “service”.

The other new item was an “Easy Voting Card” (pictured below).

Electors are asked to present the card (a cut-out ticket) when they vote. Presumably it simplifies identification, although I’ve never been asked for photo ID previously when voting. Usually, you just have to declare that you are who you say you are, and that you haven’t voted previously.

A message alongside the “Easy Voting Card” says: “You can vote without this card but it may take longer”.

I don’t mind tightening up identification for voting. People should be asked to present a licence, credit card, tax return or Medicare card. If they don’t have any of those, there should be the option of special electoral ID on application.

Or maybe we should have a national identification system?