Labor wins S.A. election

[onetrack]

Early figures are showing Labor in S.A. enjoying a comfortable win, for a second term of Govt - while Pauline Hansons party appears to be sucking up all the disaffected Liberal voters.

 

Ashton Hurn, the Liberal leader in S.A. who promised great things, is polling around 10% lower on her primary vote. Not a good sign for her continued reign in her job. The Liberals in S.A. will be holding a wake over the decomposed remains of the Liberal Party in the State, by the look of things.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-21/sa-election-day-live-updates/106476924

[willedoo]

It's always interesting watching how the seats pan out on election nights. One seat, Mawson I think it was, Labor has lost 20% of their vote to One Nation. In a lot of seats the 20% approximate swing to One Nation has come at Liberal cost with a much smaller amount from Labor.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Can you see what's wrong with our electoral system?

 

One Nation and independents got well over 1/4 of the primary vote, perhaps a 1/3, and because there was no seats won except for one independent, all those votes end up with zero value.

 

The only votes that have value are the ones that help to win seats. The votes that don't win seats just remain as bits of paper filled out by voters who get ignored for the next four years.

 

This is one of the reasons I stopped voting. Some votes have significant value, while other votes have no value at all.

 

For a system that has mandatory voting, all votes should have value, and proportionate representation in the running of the State, or Nation

 

So the jurassic idea of "winning seats" needs to be changed to: "A party is to get as many votes as it can, and then, a party's voters will get a real say in Parliament". In other words, abolish "seats", and have proportionate representation in Parliament instead. That will mean every vote will have value every election. No voter will be left behind.

 

 

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Grumpy Old Nasho

[willedoo]

It's hard to see it ever changing. The two party system, sometimes referred to as the uniparty, needs preferential voting to maintain their hold. They'll fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.

[willedoo]

Here's an article on how New Zealand changed to proportional representation in 1996:

https://electoral-reform.org.uk/how-did-new-zealand-get-proportional-representation/

 

Another bit on how and where it's used in Australia:

https://www.ecanz.gov.au/electoral-systems/proportional

Edited 12 hours ago by willedoo

[willedoo]

Just looking at results via the ABC (updated 6 hours ago), One Nation are in with a chance in Hammond and MacKillop. Last night the Liberals in Hammond were on 51%TPP, but the latest results have them dropping back and One Nation on 53.8%TPP to Labor's 46.2%. MacKillop is tight between Labor and One Nation with One Nation at 50.8%TPP to Labor at 49.2%. 

 

Edit: those preferences are estimates by the ABC, not actual preferences didtributed.

Edited 11 hours ago by willedoo

[facthunter]

There's good and Bad about the Preferential system but I'd prefer it to the First past the Post. Nev

[facthunter]

It was Massively abused in the Senate years ago by dirty deals to trade Preferences but the set up for  election of Senators is bad anyhow.  They aren't directly  elected.  That's why Keating referred to them as "Unrepresentative SWILL".  Nev

[willedoo]

Preferential voting sure provides a much different result than first past the post. In SA for example, first past the post , depending on the final count, might have delivered One Nation quite a few lower house seats. As it stands with preferences, they might get one, possibly two, or none at all.

[willedoo]

The way I look at it, Labor is lucky to have the Greens on their left. That 10%  Green vote is quite  a significant number of preferences that mostly flow to Labor. In that regard Labor has more benefit than threat on their left so it allows them to occupy a fairly comfortable space on the spectrum.

[facthunter]

This was a Giant Beat up by the Murdoch news. I think it's a bit more subdued today. Murdoch doesn't like  being off point. Nev

Edited 9 hours ago by facthunter
typo

[facthunter]

There's not much sign of hope for the greens in those results. Outcomes differed Massively across seats in SA regions. The new Lib Leader had little time to  Campaign and Made Probably the BEST speech of all.. Very gracious and articulate. Pauleen didn't make any speech at the time the Others did.. Nev

[willedoo]

3 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Outcomes differed Massively across seats in SA regions.

There's quite a big difference when you look across the seats. Labor had swings against them in eight seats and a lot of them were big swings. Where there were swings to Labor, the swings were mostly small, but a couple of big ones in there to Labor. Labor seats had much more swinging to them than against.

[onetrack]

Quote

Very gracious and articulate

You can be as gracious and articulate as the best of them - but if you continue to back a party that is no longer relevant to most people, and dead in the water politically, you will forever remain an "also-ran".

[willedoo]

She seems like quite a capable leader and young enough to stick around for a fair while. You never know, she might be premier one day in the future, leading a rebuilt Liberal party. That's the job ahead for people like her, to bring the party back to relevance. It will take a long time but everything goes round in cycles eventually, and I don't believe we're stuck with a one party system forever.

 

The question is, will the Liberals successfully rebuild, or will they fade away and be replaced by a new party. Either way will take a long time.

[facthunter]

The Libs HAVE to do a Massive re jig away from the NATS who have had them over a barrel for years. They have a massive Job but it Must be done. Going Trump copy is NOT the Answer.  Poor Leens show will self destruct with all the Incompatible Rejects vying for power. Nev

[willedoo]

The South Australian federal MP on one of the election coverage panels last night was downplaying One Nation's significant primary vote regarding it's federal implications. He frequently said he thought the state of the SA Libs in recent times was a big factor. Time will tell, but there might be a bit more to it than that. The interesting part of the SA election regarding One Nation is that it did well in a state where most of the seats are urban, city based seats. In Queensland which has traditionally been One Nation's heartland, there are a lot of rural and regional seats where ON traditionally does well, but in SA, they have very few rural seats. If One Nation continues to grow, they'll need to organise better and function like a proper party to avoid the past habit of self destruction.

[willedoo]

10 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The Libs HAVE to do a Massive re jig away from the NATS who have had them over a barrel for years. They have a massive Job but it Must be done.

Nev, the only other option is an amalgamation, but I can't see the federal Nats agreeing to that. It worked in Queensland as the Nats were always the much stronger party of the two and it was a no-brainer for the Qld. Libs to enter into it, otherwise they would have faded away. Federally, the shoe is on the other foot and the Nats would feel they were having to make too many concessions to the Libs in an amalgamation. Maybe if the Libs went solo they could develop policies to gain some middle ground back from Labor and have a future where government would be a possibility again. The only other option is to sit tight and wait for Labor to lose, but that could take a while.

[red750]

Here's a post from FB. Yes it's lengthy and I haven't fact checked it, but if true, very interesting.

 

𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼.
The 2026 South Australia state election results are in.
𝗔𝗟𝗣: 𝟯𝟮 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀.
𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀: 𝟰 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀.
𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝟬.    (PS:   They could win Hammond, but not finalised yet)
Absorb that.
But here is what makes it even more extraordinary. South Australia 2026 is not a one-off. This is a 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻. A thirty-year pattern. And it deserves to be named in full.
𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘀:
Zero seats in the 2025 federal lower house, despite gaining swings across the country.
Zero seats in the 2013 federal Senate NSW, attracting just 1.22% of first preference votes.
Zero seats in the 2012 Queensland state election across six contests, polling a humiliating 0.1% of total votes cast statewide.
Zero seats in the 2009 Queensland state election.
Zero seats in the 2004 federal election as an independent, falling short of even 32% of the required Senate quota.
Zero seats in the 2003 NSW state election upper house.
Zero seats in the 2001 federal election, despite polling 10% of the primary vote in Queensland. The votes were there. The credibility was not.
Zero in her own seat of Blair in 1998, where she won 36% of the primary vote and still lost.
Zero Senate seat for her own daughter Lee Hanson in Tasmania at the 2025 federal election.
Zero lower house seats of significance in thirty years outside one short-lived Queensland result.
And now, zero in South Australia 2026.
That is not a bad run. That is a 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱.
The party that claims to speak for "real Australians" cannot win a real seat to save itself.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱
In 1996, she told parliament Australia was "in danger of being swamped by Asians." Twenty years later she returned and delivered the same speech, replacing "Asians" with "Muslims." Same fear. Same language. Same zero solutions. Just a different target.
She wore a burqa into the Senate chamber as a political stunt, treating a garment of faith as a costume for manufactured outrage. She dismissed the Stolen Generations as exaggerated. She called climate change a hoax while Australia burned. She promoted anti-vaccination narratives during a global pandemic. She announced she was leaving Australia for the UK, then said she changed her mind because the UK was "overrun with immigrants and refugees," the same complaint she had spent twenty years making about her own country. While considering the move, she publicly said she would not sell her Queensland home to Muslims. She praised Donald Trump as a role model for Australia.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵
Al Jazeera caught her chief of staff James Ashby and Queensland leader Steve Dickson soliciting millions from the American gun lobby, the NRA, to fund Australian elections and dismantle gun laws that exist because 35 people were killed at Port Arthur in 1996. Hanson's response was to attack Al Jazeera, not answer a single documented fact. Dickson was separately caught on hidden camera making offensive sexual remarks about women at a Washington strip club during that same trip and resigned. Mark Latham publicly attacked a schoolchild by name on social media and was found in breach of anti-discrimination law over his statements on transgender students. Fraser Anning, who briefly aligned with One Nation, used the phrase "final solution," a direct reference to the Nazi Holocaust in which six million Jewish people were murdered, in his Senate maiden speech on immigration, and then physically struck a teenager who challenged him after the Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand where 51 Muslim worshippers were killed.
She had billionaire backers, bot armies, sympathetic tabloids, and primetime television. She ran the full Trump playbook. Blame immigrants, manufacture grassroots support, claim the system is rigged when you lose, and dress three decades of grievance politics in the Australian flag.
And South Australians walked into polling booths and said: 𝗡𝗼.
𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲. 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀.
This is not a party. It is a personality cult built on fear, with no institutional substance, no real policy, and no genuine community trust. And thirty years of Australian voters have delivered the same verdict, again and again.
Zero seats. Zero excuses. Zero credibility.
Thirty years. The same scoreboard.
Democracy, when it works, is humbling. Today, it worked.
Should One Nation ever defy this three-decade trend and secure 3-4 seats, it will not be a sign of their growing appeal. It will be a direct consequence of the Liberal Party's dismal failure to present a viable alternative, forcing disillusioned voters to seek protest votes elsewhere. The scoreboard doesn't lie, but the context matters more.
𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐡 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐡𝐮
Director, CAQA | Editor-in-Chief | ISO Auditor | Poet and Writer
Forbes Business Council Member | United Nations Speaker
Top 100 Global Educator | RTO/AI/HE/ISO Expert
Global Advisory Board Member, Forttuna Education Council
#SAElection2026 #OneNation #PaulineHanson #AustralianDemocracy #RacePolitics #MediaAccountability #SouthAustralia #ElectionResults #TrumpPlaybook #VotersDecide #ForeignInterference #PoliticalAccountability #AustralianPolitics #NoToHate

 

 

 

[facthunter]

They carry a lot of Baggage which always comes out, eventually. Nev

[facthunter]

Soliciting money from the NRA should by rights have ended up with them going to Court. Bob Kattars mob are in the same boat. Pro gun fanatics. Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

2 hours ago, red750 said:

Democracy, when it works, is humbling. Today, it worked.

 

Who is that dumbcluck 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐡 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐡𝐮, the author of that long Facebook post?

 

He's brain dead, he's saying Democracy only works when Labor gets seats, and One Nation fails to get any.

 

I wonder what he'd say if One Nation got enough seats to form Government, and Labor got only one or two seats?

 

Would Democracy still be working then? 

 

Apparently not, according to numpty Sukh Sandhu.

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Grumpy Old Nasho

[rgmwa]

17 minutes ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

He's brain dead, he's saying Democracy only works when Labor gets seats, and One Nation fails to get any.

No, he's saying it's because Democracy works that One Nation fails to get any. 

Edited 5 hours ago by rgmwa

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Same thing, if I'm understanding your post correctly.

 

What we really need is Proportional Representation, so that all votes have value, and a say in Parliament.

 

The way it is at the moment, millions of votes have no value, and no say in anything.

 

Technically, they are unrepresented in Parliament, and shouldn't have to pay tax that funds the ideological whims of other parties that win Government.

[Litespeed]

You are a fool GON.

 

Take you're bat and ball and live in America