Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has won its first-ever lower house seat at an election outside of Queensland, the ABC projects.
Adelaide Plains Council Deputy Mayor David Paton is set to become the One Nation member for Ngadjuri in South Australia’s parliament.
On the latest count, One Nation has a first preference lead of 5.6 percentage points over Labor candidate Tony Piccolo, and the Liberal Party recommended voters preference One Nation over the Labor Party.
One Nation is in contention in several other electorates as well, including the regional seats of Hammond, MacKillop and Narungga.
Preference counts between the leading two candidates in those seats will be conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia this week.
Labor has won at least 32 seats in the 47-member House of Assembly, while the Liberal Party is currently on four.
Nine seats remain in doubt.
The ABC has contacted Mr Paton for comment.
His profile page on One Nation’s SA website describes him as a 55-year-old father who has been in a “long-standing business partnership with his wife”.
It says that during his time in local government, he has been committed to “reducing unnecessary expenditure” for ratepayers.
“Too often, governments focus on what I call the ‘concrete North’ while ignoring the real North — the farming, regional, and semi-rural communities that feed and support this state,” the website quotes him as saying.
According to his party Facebook account, he has been heavily campaigning in Narungga, including alongside One Nation federal leader Pauline Hanson and state leader Cory Bernardi.
“The support we’ve been receiving across the electorate has been overwhelming,” he said in a post.
One Nation SA leader Cory Bernardi says the party could win up to six lower house seats.
Mr Bernardi, who is one of at least two One Nation candidates projected to secure an upper house seat, said the outcome of the election had “changed South Australian politics forever”.
“We’re still an opportunity to win up to six lower house seats; it’s going to be tough, but nonetheless we’re in the hunt,” he said.
“In the upper house, it looks like we will get three people elected.
“It looks like Carlos Quaremba is going to be elected, and Rebecca Hewett, in the upper house.”
Mr Bernardi said that, in office, he would continue to push for a repeal of the SA Voice to Parliament.
Pauline refers to MPs as ‘landmines’
Last night, Senator Hanson told a crowd of supporters that while she was leaving South Australia after the election, she would be leaving something behind.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson speaks to the party’s supporters on election night.
“Guess what, mate?” she said, referring to newly re-elected Premier Peter Malinauskas.
“I’m leaving you some landmines — they’re called One Nation members of parliament.
“I suggest don’t step on them because they will explode, and that’s what we’re here for — to ensure you get good representation, good government with a good opposition which you have not had in this state for a long time.”
The ABC spoke to several people who said they had given their vote to One Nation, with many citing cost-of-living pressures as a key contributor.
Leanne Wilson, like her husband Trevor, has chosen to back One Nation at this election. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)
Leanne Wilson, who lives in Ashton Hurn’s electorate of Schubert, told the ABC on election day that she was casting a “protest vote” for One Nation.
“I’m sick and tired of what’s going on, the politicians promise the world and give you nothing and we’re going to hell in a hand basket,” Ms Wilson said.
Ms Wilson said she was struggling with the cost of living.
“It’s very hard, we’re living by pension-to-pension … you want to do something and you can’t,” she said.
Voter Greg McCarthy says housing and cost of living were his top concerns heading into the election. (ABC News: Aiden McNamara)
Greg McCarthy, who lives in the Playford electorate in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, said he was voting for One Nation “because they are the only people worth voting for essentially”.
“Like a lot of people, we’ve had enough of all the major parties and everything else, and Pauline’s doing the right thing standing up for Australia,” he said.
He said the cost of living was also a major concern for him, particularly rental and house prices.
Labor relishes landslide win, Liberals count cost
Speaking on ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning, Peter Malinauskas said One Nation’s results should cause both parties to reflect.
“While they’re obviously clearly big questions for the Liberal Party, we shouldn’t be shy from putting the mirror up to ourselves and asking what more we can do, particularly in outer suburban Adelaide and regional South Australia,” he said.
Later on Sunday morning, Mr Malinauskas visited the seat of Unley, one of four electorates that Labor won from the Liberals.
He said last night’s election results showed that “in a world of serious volatility” politicians — across any party, including Labor — cannot take anything for granted.
“I think we saw a lot of Liberal voters going to One Nation, but I also think we saw a lot of Liberal voters coming to Labor, and then we saw Labor voters going to One Nation,” he said.
Peter Malinauskas enjoys a Sunday morning coffee with successful Labor candidates Aria Bolkus (seat of Colton), Alice Rolls (seat of Unley), Matthew Marozzi (seat of Morialta), and Jenn Roberts (seat of Hartley). (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)
“And when all that washed out, obviously the Liberal vote collapsed, the One Nation vote surged and the Labor vote has remained steady.
“But underneath that, there are parts of South Australia — regional communities, metropolitan Adelaide, particularly northern suburbs — where they want people to do better, and we just have to remain committed to that task.”
Speaking on Sunday morning in the seat of Bragg, one of four that the Liberal party is predicted to have retained so far, Liberal leader Ashton Hurn said the party needed to “stay true to what our values are”.
Ashton Hurn visited the seat of Bragg, which has been retained by the Liberal Party’s Jack Batty (left) on Sunday. (ABC News: Ashlin Blieschke)
“We are a centre-right party and that’s where the Liberal Party belongs,” Ms Hurn said.
“We need to make sure that we’re focused on getting those basics right and that’s what my campaign’s been all about.
“But at the end of the day, there’ll be a lot of reflections, a lot of analysis over the weeks ahead. But I wouldn’t be advocating to lurch one way or another. We’ve got to stay the course. We are a centre-right party and that’s where the Liberal Party belongs.”