Labor leader Peter Malinauskas has won a landslide victory in the South Australian election, pledging to use the win to deliver a “fairer, better, society”.
After recording a more than 7% primary vote swing towards it across the state, Labor was on track to win 26 seats and form majority government, ending Steven Marshall’s Liberal government after just one term.
This would be the worst result for the Liberal party since the 2006 “Rannslide” victory to Mike Rann in 2006.
The premier conceded defeat to the opposition leader, Peter Malinauskas, at around 9pm on Saturday night.
Premier-elect Malinauskas began his victory speech with an acknowledgment to country, and pledging to progress a state-based treaty and voice for the Aboriginal people of SA.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of South Australia – it is not lost on me the significance of the privilege and the size of the responsibility that you have invested in me and my team,” he said.
Malinauskas said that while election nights were often about the elation of victory for Labor, “true satisfaction for us comes in realising our ambition, our ideal, of delivering a fairer, better, society and more opportunities for those that need it most.”
“I do believe that we have the policy and the plan to realise that ambition, but more than that I know that I lead the team to deliver it,” he said.
Malinauskas also thanked the Liberal party, saying “they may be our adversaries, but they are not our enemies,” acknowledging Liberal MPs who had lost their seats and the service of Marshall for the past four years.
Marshall said he had called Malinauskas to concede and to congratulate him on becoming the 47th premier of the state.
“The people of SA have spoken, they have elected a new government,” Marshall said on Saturday to supporters at the Robin Hood hotel.
“But it doesn’t take away the work that we have done in South Australia over the last four years,” he said, pointing to the state’s employment rate, lower costs and the management of the pandemic.
He said it had been an “honour and privilege” to serve as premier.
The ABC election analyst Antony Green said there was “no doubt” that Labor would form government with swings towards Labor across the state.
The likely loss for the Liberal party after just one term makes it the first incumbent government to lose an election since the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
Premier Steven Marshall’s own seat of Dunstan – held on a margin of 7.4% – was also at risk of falling to the Labor party where there was a 6.2% swing against him in early voting.
The deputy premier, Dan Van Holst Pelekaan, was also likely to lose his safe regional seat of Stuart after a redistribution put former Labor-aligned independent Geoff Brock’s hometown of Port Pirie into the electorate.
Labor has won the marginal seats of Elder, Newland and Adelaide, and is also likely to win the seat of Davenport.
It was also ahead in the other key marginal seat of King.
Labor holds 19 seats in the 47 seat House of Assembly while the Liberal party holds 22. Labor needed to win four seats to form majority government.
As of 5pm on Sunday figures from the Electoral Commission of SA showed the Labor party had received 40.4% of first preference votes, the Liberal Party 34.6% and the Greens 9.6%.
Labor is ahead in 28 seats, while the Liberal party was ahead in 13. Six independents were also on track to win their seats, most of which were being contested against the Liberal party.
Family First – which is now run by former Labor ministers Tom Kenyon and Jack Snelling – had registered 3.8% of primary votes.
The social services minister, Anne Ruston, said there were some “take-home lessons” from the result in South Australia, and said it was clear the government had not been rewarded for its handling of the pandemic.
She also compared Marshall to prime minister Scott Morrison, saying the SA premier was a “nice guy”.
“There’s clearly some take-home lessons for us going into the election in the next couple of months, but Steven Marshall is a really nice guy and maybe it’s a case of nice guys don’t win tonight,” she told Sky News.
“Scott Morrison is a tough operator. Steven Marshall is a nice guy, there is absolutely no doubt about it. You used the word ‘mongrel’ – Steven Marshall does not have that nasty streak.
“Scott Morrison will not let somebody run over the top of him and be as mean as Malinauskas was.”
Ruston also conceded that Labor leader Peter Malinauskas had “charisma”, and said Albanese lacked the same quality.
The Labor MP Tom Koutsantonis said there had been “dramatic” swing towards Labor and criticised the Liberal campaign for failing to address the priority of health.
The Liberal party was also struggling in key seats being fought against conservative independents who had defected from the Liberal party during the past term of government, with independents ahead in the seats of Kavel, Narungga and Mount Gambier.
Labor has run its campaign on the issue of health and ambulance ramping, while the Liberal party has been campaigning on the economy and the risk a change of government would pose as the state emerges from the Covid pandemic.
