Chris Oldfield, Naracoorte Community News
In his capacity as a volunteer, Naracoorte’s Lachlan Haynes was recently elected as the Liberal Party of SA’s second vice-president.
As part of that role, he hopes to help guide his political counterparts into Government at the next State election in 2026.
That means helping to develop the best policies possible.
“It is also very humbling to be elected for a third year on the Liberal Party State executive,” Mr Haynes said.
The executive is the party’s board of management and his position comes after two years of chairing the Rural and Regional Council, which has more than 300 members Statewide.
As vice-president Mr Haynes also chairs the party’s State Council Policy Committee. It is charged with preparing all of the member’s policies raised for the State and Federal divisions.
“Many will go on to become party policies,” said Mr Haynes who explained policy development was his passion – particularly if it was rural or regionally focused.
Growing up on a farm near Naracoorte, he aims to “always advocate for the rural and regional residents of the State to have as much equality as possible (compared with) our city cousins”.
His passion for rural and regional people and his position as State vice-president have put Naracoorte firmly on the political map.
“I am fourth generation, born in Naracoorte,” Mr Haynes said.
“My great grandfather moved to Naracoorte and established a butcher shop in the town – Pinkerton-Haynes Butchers, where Attwood Shoes now resides, and worked a farm at Koppamurra.
“My great grandmother was a Pinkerton from the Commercial Hotel family.”
Mr Haynes attended school in Naracoorte and completed Years 11 and 12 in Hamilton.
“After school I was employed in a number of agricultural roles including two years at Balaklava and a year at Vivco IAMA selling rural merchandise,” he said.
Returning in the 1990s to manage the family farm, he also married Sarah Crawford, of Lucindale.
Selling the farm in 2017, Mr Haynes is now a vineyard manager at Joanna for Tapanappa Wines.
“I have been a party member for many years and decided to become far more active on the encouragement of Tony Pasin MP, Nicolle Flint (former) MP and Senator Alex Antic,” Mr Haynes said.
While it is easy not to be involved in politics or help shape a better future, Mr Haynes decided ignorance or apathy wasn’t for him.
“Drawn to the party’s conservative values of the freedom of the individual, small government and free enterprise, I threw myself into volunteering,” he said.
“The future is determined by those who turn up.”
“Turning up”, making a difference and working within the party to try and put forward good ideas from the ground up has been part of life for Mr Haynes over many years.
He has taken on positions such as the Liberal Party’s Naracoorte branch president, MacKillop State Electorate Committee president for four years, along with Barker Federal Electorate Committee secretary for six years.
“In recent years I have travelled much of the State in my volunteer roles,” he said.
During his travels Mr Haynes has listened and seen firsthand both the great advantages of living in various rural and regional areas, as well as some disappointing inequalities.
“Being Naracoorte born and bred I have always enjoyed doing my best to advance our concerns and policies, and to be a fierce advocate for the regions within the party.
“I am particularly proud of policies I put forward such as more overtaking lanes on regional SA roads, particularly the Riddoch Hwy, an improved Keith Hospital funding model and policy on better streamlining of priority for country patient visits to city specialists, to name a few.
“I was delighted to be involved with the very recent popular visit of Senator Alex Antic, accompanied by our Federal member Tony Pasin.”
That visit saw more than 200 people pack into the Naracoorte Town Hall and nod quietly to Mr Antic’s conservative values.
While in Adelaide for meetings, Mr Haynes takes being a vice-president for the Liberal Party seriously, vowing never to forget his home town and district, or the problems rural and regional people face.
“I will always be an advocating rural member for the Liberal Party,” he said.
Part of developing policies for rural and regional people also meant having a strong support base made up of like-minded conservative members.
“We (the Liberal Party) are enjoying very solid membership growth, particularly from the regions, building exciting policy platforms to hopefully return us to Government Federally and in SA, to be a strong voice for regional Australia,” Mr Haynes said.
“I greatly enjoy my involvement in politics as a volunteer and always seek to make a difference, particularly for our rural and regional (people).”
This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.