One Nation surges in South Australia
Labor held power in South Australia’s state election, but the real story is One Nation’s surge — the party nearly matched its 1998 Queensland performance and has reshaped the state’s political map. The result leaves the Liberals weakened and both major parties scrambling to respond to right‑wing gains. (theguardian.com) (abc.net.au)
One Nation won 22.0% of first-preference votes in the House of Assembly while the Liberals polled 19.2% and Labor 37.9% on the same count. (en.wikipedia.org) In the lower house tally Labor rose to 32 seats, the Liberals were reduced to 4 seats and One Nation secured 1 seat — changes of +5, −12 and +1 respectively compared with the previous parliament. (en.wikipedia.org) The upper house result handed One Nation 23.9% of Legislative Council primary votes and two of the 11 seats contested, making it one of the largest crossbench forces in the chamber on vote share. (en.wikipedia.org) Former federal Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who formally joined One Nation in early February and led the party’s SA upper‑house ticket, was elected to the Legislative Council. (abc.net.au) Pauline Hanson addressed a large One Nation gathering in Adelaide on election night and told supporters “the last time I saw a crowd like this was when we won 11 seats in Queensland in 1998.” (9news.com.au) Media outlets logged swings as large as 20 percentage points in individual electorates and noted this is the first time the Liberals have finished outside the top two parties on statewide primary vote in a South Australian election. (9news.com.au)
