New Member for Hammond Robert Roylance is ready to get on with the job
EXCLUSIVE: The Murraylands’ provisionally elected One Nation MP reflects on a surprising state election result and what comes next.
This story is now free to read. Help Murray Bridge News tell more stories like this by subscribing today.
The election result will not be formally declared until next week, but Robert Roylance is already gearing up for life as the state Member for Hammond.
It’ll be a pretty big change of pace for the One Nation-affiliated ferry driver from Mannum.
Instead of watching birds flit over the River Murray and distilling spirits with his brother, he’ll soon be reading legislation, sitting in Parliament until all hours and managing an office staff – not to mention earning more than $218,000 per year.
Like his electorate, though, the 38-year-old MP is ready for the change.
“I’m not afraid of challenging situations,” he told Murray Bridge News on Thursday morning.
“There will be steep learning curves – that’s awesome, I love that – but I’ve been all over the world and there’s not much that scares me.”
He spent election night in Adelaide with the One Nation team: “I had a couple of beers and went home.”
By his own admission, he didn’t spend think too seriously about the possibility of winning until about a week after voting closed, when it became clear that his election-day lead would hold up.
“I really don’t believe in counting your chickens before they hatch,” he said.
“I disconnected, went back to ferry operating, back to the distillery work … because it’s out of my control, so I just (didn’t want to) worry about it, you know?
“As it (became) clear that I was going to win it, I started making preparations and plans.”
For one thing, he planned to keep an electorate office in Murray Bridge rather than his home town, he said.
In fact, he hoped to take over outgoing MP Adrian Pederick’s office at 20 Mannum Road, something the two men had already spoken about.
In the meantime, Mr Roylance thanked the voters of Hammond for choosing him, and One Nation’s leaders, staff and volunteers for an “incredible” campaign effort.
“I’m humbled by the trust and faith voters in Hammond have placed in me, and very grateful for their support,” he said.
“Together we’ve made history in Hammond, an important part of One Nation’s groundbreaking success at this election.”
To the 73 per cent of voters who gave their first preferences to other candidates, he had a message, too: “I’ll have to work to earn your trust, and I’ll do so.”
What do One Nation voters expect from their new MP?
The number-one reason voters in Hammond went with One Nation was their dissatisfaction with the two major parties, a straw poll by Murray Bridge News has suggested.
Anti-Liberal and Labor sentiment, and a need for change, were the two reasons most commonly given by self-identified One Nation supporters in replies to a social media post by the author of this story.
They described themselves as “forgotten citizens” who had been ignored, and the major parties as out of touch with the real world, with no idea what it was like to live on a low income.
They saw alternatives in Mr Roylance – “a good bloke … just having a go like the rest of us” – and federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
Immigration was the top issue they mentioned as a motivating factor, but the cost of living and the ongoing housing and fuel crises were also top of mind.
“One Nation … resonated with a lot of people who are slogging it hard,” Mr Roylance said.
“People are struggling to pay their rent, to put money aside to buy a house, to pay their bills.”
He hoped to be an MP who would not get caught up in political point-scoring, but one people could talk to about those issues down at the pub, like any other punter: “That’s how it should be.”
How will One Nation fulfil its promises?
Mr Roylance, MacKillop MP Jason Virgo and the rest of the One Nation team will sit on the cross benches in South Australia’s new parliament, between the majority Labor government and a tiny Liberal opposition.
They’ll have just three or four out of 47 seats in the lower house, the House of Assembly; and three of 22 in the upper house, the Legislative Council.
In all likelihood, the government will need the vote of just one upper-house MP to get its legislation through parliament.
That will make it hard for One Nation to push its priorities forward.
The five issues mentioned on Mr Roylance’s how-to-vote cards were:
- Cost of living
- Dismantling net zero: Opposed by Labor
- Ending mass immigration: A federal issue opposed by Labor
- Repealing the Voice to Parliament: Opposed by Labor
- Local government reform
For more detail about how the party planned to work tactically in parliament, he suggested Murray Bridge News talk to state leader Cory Bernardi.
But he believed One Nation would be able to hold the government to account more effectively than the shrunken Liberal opposition.
“We’ve got the teeth, we’ve got the guts to say what we want to say,” he said.
“We’re here to stay, and this is going to be an excellent chance to prove who we are to the people.
“We’re not going to be a one-term show pony.”
State MPs had some power to pressure the federal government on issues like immigration, too, he suggested: “Whatever federal does, state needs to facilitate.”
Public transport will be priority one
First, though, securing better public transport services for Hammond will be Mr Roylance’s top priority.
That’s just as well – voters put it at the top of their agenda in a Murray Bridge News survey, too.
The Labor government has promised to introduce an Adelaide Metro bus service between Murray Bridge and Adelaide, reducing the cost of an adult fare to the city from $24.20 to $4.55, or even less for students and seniors.
Locals will also get free travel on Footy Express bus services on AFL game days.
Mr Roylance said he would hold the government to those promises.
“I’ve been listening carefully, and public transport was a big issue in Hammond during the campaign,” he said in a statement.
“It will be an ongoing priority for me: listening to the community and acting on what they tell me.
“Improving public transport services and affordability is a good fit for a One Nation MP who supports putting services and infrastructure in place before population increase puts undue pressure on them.”
Neither the government nor Adelaide Metro has yet given any timetable for implementing the promised services.
