Malinauskas on the cusp of victory as One Nation hit by scandal
Updated ,first published
Labor recorded a significant election victory in South Australia, where a significant surge in One Nation had a negative impact on the incumbent government’s primary vote; The Liberals will also fall to just a handful of seats.
Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas will secure a second term as president by a wide margin after just two hours of counting on Saturday evening, driven by strong voting and a fragmented opposition.
Queensland senator Pauline Hanson’s right-wing populist party was destroying much of the Liberal Party’s traditional vote in regional areas with its strong support for One Nation in the working-class areas of Labour’s heartland; this posed a national threat due to the rise of grievance politics against the major parties.
Labor had a nearly 4 per cent swing in early primary votes and took 35 per cent of the vote; One Nation, on the other hand, increased to approximately 24 percent of the primary vote. The Liberals were underdog at 19 per cent at 8.30pm (AEST).
Complex preference flows are expected to ensure counting in a few narrow seats takes several days, with more than 35 per cent of South Australians also voting in the days before the election.
The close of the election was marked by the dramatic abandonment of One Nation candidate Aoi Baxter amid claims she was wanted by authorities in the UK.
The controversy erupted on Friday after it emerged that Baxter, also known as Trent Baxter, allegedly failed to appear in court on sexual touching charges. A representative from the crime section of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service confirmed to ABC Baxter has a “no bail warrant” [for] “I do not attend the court in England”.
Within hours, One Nation moved to disendorse Baxter, who was running for the Adelaide seat, and acknowledged the matter had not been disclosed during candidate vetting.
“Mr Baxter is no longer a One Nation candidate following this news,” the party said in a statement.
South Australian One Nation leader Cory Bernardi said the development was a shock at the worst possible time.
“We also expect integrity and honesty from our candidates. He was not forthright in this case,” he said. Advertiser.
Baxter refused to speak to Nine News when approached to discuss the nature of the allegations.
“I believe in innocence until proven guilty, that’s all I have to say right now. I will make a full statement,” he said.
The ABC was banned from attending One Nation’s post-election event in Adelaide over its reporting on Baxter.
According to Malinauskas, the incident reinforced long-standing criticisms of the party even as it sought to focus Labor on its campaign message. Labor has long dominated South Australian politics, winning five of the last six state elections and remaining in power for 20 of the last 24 years.
“I’m not surprised at all,” he said of One Nation. “This is a political party with a history everywhere it goes; dysfunction prevails. We rarely see people sticking to One Nation; they tend to leave, resign, change parties – that’s certainly been the history of South Australia.”
The scandal comes at a critical moment for One Nation, which has emerged as the most disruptive force in the campaign. Opinion polls showed the party taking 22 to 28 per cent of the primary vote, ahead of the Liberals on 14 to 20 per cent, in a dramatic reshaping of the province’s political landscape.
Labor, which holds 29 of the 47 seats in the state’s lower house heading into the election, is polling strongly in suburban Adelaide and is likely to win seats from the Liberals; One Nation is also predicted to vote strongly in the north of the city, where Labor has its safest seats. 33 of the state’s seats are in the metro area.
Despite the recent setback, federal leader Pauline Hanson stressed that the party’s grassroots momentum remained strong, with the party having a strong chance in several lower house seats, including Narungga, Hammond, Flinders and Ngadjuri, and potentially having a good chance of claiming two upper house seats.
Speaking to the media, Hanson said he was unsure what or how many seats One Nation could win but believed the election would be “a new beginning for South Australia”.
“I think that’s what people want,” he told reporters. “People tell us ‘you are our last hope’.”
The Liberals, led by Ashton Hurn, struggled to overcome this situation. The party is grappling with a collapse of primary votes and competition from One Nation for conservative support. The party has endured numerous scandals, including the cocaine scandal surrounding former leader David Speirs, who left parliament following the release of a leaked video. Advertiser It shows him snorting white powder from a plate. Speirs pleaded guilty to two counts of drug supply last year.
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer told Sky News Australia that the behavior of former Liberal members combined with leadership instability was “fatal” to the party’s chances and described their performance in opposition as “disgraceful”.
“I have absolutely no forgiveness for these people, they insulted the Liberal Party and there was factional fighting like I’ve never seen before,” he said.
“You can’t expect the punters to vote for you if you’ve acted like this is a political party. This is the party of Playford, of Menzies, of Howard, of Fraser, of the great Liberal leaders. And they’re behaving like this. It’s a real disgrace.”
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Rob Harris is a national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Canberra. He is a former European correspondent.Connect via email.
