One Nation wins at least one SA seat as Liberals consider ‘sobering lessons’ from election defeat | South Australian election 2026
One Nation will win at least one seat in South Australia’s lower house and is ahead in a handful of others, as the Liberals say there are “sobering lessons” from Saturday’s massive election defeat for Labor.
One Nation’s electoral success came as federal MP Barnaby Joyce downplayed accusations of racism and bigotry against the party before likening a ban on immigration from Muslim countries to buying “useless” cattle.
As of Sunday evening, the right-wing populist party was ahead in four seats in the lower house and remained in contention in two other seats.
Adelaide Plains council deputy mayor David Paton is expected to make the claim, the ABC said Ngadjuri’s lower house seat.
One Nation was also well positioned in Hammond, a rural constituency east of Adelaide, where it led the Labor candidate in the two-candidate count.
Pauline Hanson’s party was also ahead in Narungga, which covers the Yorke Peninsula, and Mackillop, on SA’s southern border with Victoria. One Nation candidates Stuart and Light also remained in contention.
If One Nation wins all six seats, this scenario is likely to be a reality according to election analyst Ben Raue. It is believed to be unlikely – could eclipse the Liberals as the de facto opposition in the province.
Across South Australia, Labor received 38% of the primary vote and suffered a narrow loss to the party on 2%. One Nation’s vote rose to 22%, representing a 19.4% swing, while the Liberals followed with a primary vote of 19%, down 16%. 60 percent of the votes have been counted.
The Liberal party’s poor performance saw it win just four seats by Sunday evening. There was also contention in the other 4 cases.
Federal shadow health minister Anne Ruston said her Liberal colleagues needed to learn “sobering lessons”.
“The Liberal party has a lot of work to do to rebuild the trust of Australians,” he told Sky News on Sunday. “We didn’t tell our story very well.”
Ruston said the Liberals needed to govern from the centre, as the party’s conservatives suggested their policies should move further to the right.
Joyce said One Nation’s success in the state was a reflection of the party offering “clarity of vision” to voters.
“We believe in building coal-fired power plants. If this upsets you, be upset. We believe in it.” [in] Stronger control over immigration. If this upsets you, be upset,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“We don’t believe in multiculturalism. We believe in Australian culture and the guardrails that have given us the egalitarianism and freedom that we’ve always had to express ourselves and have fun, and if that upsets you, be upset.”
Joyce insisted the party, known for its anti-immigration policies, was not bigoted or racist. He suggested that new immigrants should assimilate or conform to “Australian culture”.
Asked whether One Nation would advocate banning immigration from Muslim countries, the former National Party leader said it was necessary to be “ruthless”, likening the idea to buying “useless” cattle.
“I don’t want to sound trite about it, but it’s a bit like buying cattle. If you’re buying cattle from a particular dealer and there are an unreasonable number of animals that don’t work when they get off the truck, then you don’t buy them anymore,” he said.
“And it’s not to say, ‘Oh, we just avoid people of the Islamic faith’, but you have to be very careful about what parts of the world they come from, the dominant worldview or the extreme worldview that’s espoused there that probably doesn’t align with what you need in Australia.”
The National Council of Imams of Australia called Joyce’s comments “deeply offensive” and betrayed “profound ignorance of Australia’s history, values and social fabric”.
Council spokesman Bilal Rauf said: “Such language dehumanises entire communities and reflects the worst instincts of the dog-whistle politics long associated with One Nation.” he said.
“Even more troubling is the normalization of this rhetoric in mainstream political discourse. When published and activated, such views risk eroding public confidence in our institutions and undermining the social cohesion that underpins a diverse and democratic society.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not directly address the election results on Sunday, but in a speech to the Vietnamese community in Melbourne he warned against those trying to demonize immigrants.
“There are those, including some in political life, who want to turn back the clock to an Australia that is no longer us,” Albanese said.
“We need to call out these people. We need to continue to value our diversity as a strength of our nation, which it is.”
Albanese was bored when he visited the Lakemba mosque on Friday. He later said his critics were unhappy with his government’s outlawing of “extremist organizations” such as Hizb ut Tahrir, but failed to provide any evidence for his claim.
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas is on track for Labor to take at least 32 of 47 seats in the next state parliament.
Federal leader Chris Bowen praised Malinauskas’ victory on Sunday, saying it “secured the place of the great Labor Party in history”.
