Libs set for decision on Mayo | SA’s best tasting tap water
This week, InSider previews a key political contest in the Adelaide Hills and reviews an equally important contest concerning South Australia’s tapwater.
Decision day for Libs in Mayo
Nearly a year since first flagging his intention to run for the Liberal Party in the federal seat of Mayo, outspoken Adelaide City Councillor Henry Davis will learn his preselection fate this weekend.
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Davis is going up against conservative staffer Zane Basic for the privilege of flying the Liberal flag against Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie at the next federal election, with an electoral college of local Liberal members to gather on Saturday afternoon to choose their next candidate.
Both candidates were tight-lipped when contacted by InSider on Thursday, but the Right is confident Basic – who has the backing of conservative senator Alex Antic – will get over the line after the Mayo branch swung to the right at its most recent annual general meeting.
Basic, a former construction labourer, is currently a senior adviser to Queensland MP and federal Opposition whip Bert van Manen, splitting time between Adelaide and Canberra. Prior to that, he worked for former Boothby MP Nicolle Flint and state MP Terry Stephens.
The Mayo preselection has been marked by tensions within the Liberal Party, with a third candidate, Nathan Godfrey, dropping out last month and releasing a statement that hinted at concerns with party unity.
Whoever is triumphant on Saturday faces an uphill battle to retake Mayo, the once blue-ribbon Adelaide Hills seat held by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Sharkie currently holds the seat on a more than 12 per cent margin, after gaining a 7.1 per cent swing over the Libs in 2022.
Well Dam, they’ve done it again
For the second year running, the BHP Olympic Dam Desalination Plant has taken out the title of South Australia’s best-tasting tap water in a competition hosted by water treatment solutions company IXOM.
Competing against a Loxton Park water treatment plant in the grand final, Olympic Dam’s tap water came out on top after a rigorous judging process. Colour, clarity, odour and taste were all assessed, with judges looking for a crystal clear sample with a “nice scent” that was “pleasing to the palate”. To ensure they did not confuse the pleasure from one sample with another, judges sniffed coffee grounds between each taste to cleanse their palates.
Water Tasting Wheel. Photo: WIOA.
A sample of BHP’s water will now make the journey to Tasmania, where it will compete in the national competition for Australia’s best-tasting tap water in November.
“This competition celebrates the individuals and organisations that strive hard, some in very trying circumstances, to ensure their communities are supplied with safe drinking water everyday,” said IXOM CEO Dean Barnett.
