South Australian Election: Results and Policies

The South Australian (SA) election was held on the 19th of March, 2022. The Labor Party was elected into government under leader Peter Malinauskas. The SA Liberal Government is the first incumbent government in Australia to have lost an election since the pandemic broke out in 2020. 

House of Assembly

There are 47 seats in the lower house (The House of Assembly) and a party requires 24 seats to govern in their own right. At the time of publication, Labor has secured 25 seats and is predicted by the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green to have won as many as 28 seats. Labor has won 40.5% of the primary vote, which represents a 7% primary vote swing towards the party across the state. The Liberals have won 9 seats and 4 seats have been won by Independents.

Counting of pre-poll and postal votes – which represent more than a quarter of all votes lodged in the state election – did not start until 9 am on the 21st of March. Postal votes can be received until this Friday, the 25th of March. In seats where the results are close, the final result will not be known till early next week. 

9 seats, including Premier Steven Marshall’s seat of Dunstan, are still in doubt. 

PartyConfirmedPredictedPrevious Government
Labor252819
Liberal91422
Independents 456

The following table depicts the House of Assembly seats that have been confirmed as changing away from the Liberal Party at the time of publication.

SeatPrevious MemberNew Member
Adelaide Rachel Sanderson (Liberal)Lucy Hood (Labor)
Davenport Erin Thompson (Liberal)Steve Murray (Labor)
ElderCarolyn Power (Liberal)Nadia Clancy (Labor)
King Paula Luethen (Liberal)Rhiannon Pearce (Labor)
Newland Richard Harvey (Liberal)Olivia Savvas (Labor)
StuartDan van Holst Pellekaan (Liberal)Geoff Brock (Independent)

Election Commitments 

Labor’s election commitments are set to cost $3.118 billion over the forward estimates, with more than a billion allocated to health.

SA Labor has said it will scrap the Riverbank Arena, make operation savings of $713 million including cutting executive staff in government, increase debt by $243 million and take $1.5 billion from uncommitted capital reserves to fund their election promises. 

Labor’s commitments include:

Health 

  • $62 million for 100 additional doctors over the next four years 
    • $20.5 million for 50 more resident doctors 
    • $10 million for specialist doctors 
    • $31.5 million for 40 more doctors at the women’s and children’s hospital
  • Hospital Upgrades across the state including
  • An investment of over $2.4 million over four years to support South Australians living with motor neurone disease 
  • Over 300 more hospital beds:
    • $213 million for 112 hospital beds across both metropolitan and peri-urban Adelaide
    • $182 million to establish 98 more mental health beds over the next four years. 
      • 72 beds in metropolitan areas 
      • 20 mental health community beds
      • 6 mental health beds at Mount Gambier Hospital
  • 300 more nurses 
    • 212 extra nurses to service the 300 extra-beds commitment by SA Labor 
    • $24 million for an additional 76 nurses across the hospital system in priority areas of need. 
    • $6.2 million to recruit 12 speciality nurses for cancer and mental health services at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. 
  • Mental Health 
    • An additional $50 million to employ a central pool of 100 new mental health and learning support specialists to be deployed to primary and secondary schools
    • $7.8 million to hire additional child psychiatrists and psychologists 
    • $800,000 over four years for the Lived Experience Leadership and Advocacy Network (LELAN) to boost mental health voices 
    • $350,000 over four years in mental health training for pharmacists, allowing them to identify and respond to the early warning signs of mental ill-health.
  • Supporting Pharmacies 
    • $900,000 to help three pharmacies across Adelaide to open their doors overnight, with funding going towards logistical arrangements and security for the pharmacies  
    •  $150,000 to develop a trial of how community pharmacies can help improve patient access to testing and antiviral treatments for respiratory illnesses
    • $250,000 expand the availability of palliative care medications in pharmacies
  • In addition to the 20 community drug and alcohol rehabilitation beds accounted for under the 300 extra beds policy, to combat Drug addiction  SA Labor has committed:
    • $4.6 million to fit-out and operate 2 dedicated drug and alcohol detox beds in the Mount Gambier Hospital
    • $1 million over four years for Family Drug Support
  • Ambulance Funding 
    • $107.8 million for 350 additional paramedics and ambulance officers
    • $120 million to build a new Emergency Operations Center 
    • $9 million purchase 36 new ambulance vehicles
    • $18.4 million to establish four new ambulance stations 
    • $7 million to expand and upgrade 10 existing ambulance stations 

Transport 

Education 

  1. Ensuring principals and their leadership group are empowered to take a greater role in decisions regarding who is on their staff 
  2. Increasing the number of permanent teachers  
  3. Making the additional allowance which teachers receive for working in the country permanent instead of temporary. 
  4. Creating a workforce plan to ensure teachers teach subjects which they are qualified to teach and create incentives for teachers to gain qualifications in specialist subjects. 
  5. Setting the minimum ATAR for teaching degrees at 70. 
  6. Tasking the Department for Education with creating new financial literacy teaching and learning resources in consultation with financial experts. 
  7. Baning mobile phones across all year levels 
  • A University Merger Commission to chart a path to merge all three universities. It will include the leadership of the three universities and be headed up by an eminent commissioner with higher education experience. Should the independent Commission determine that a university merger is in the interest of the South Australian economy and the welfare of the people of the state, then a merger will be a first-term priority for a Labor Government.  

Jobs & Economy 

  • $1 million over four years to publicise government procurement opportunities three months in advance to enable local business to prepare for tender opportunities 
  • $6.2 million to re-establish Brand SA to raise the profile of South Australian Businesses 
  • $4 million support package for female-owned businesses in South Australia.
  • $37.7 million to double the Cost of Living Concession 
  • $425 million increase in government spending going towards SA business away from interstate/ overseas suppliers 
  • $900,000 over four years to ensure the Auditor-General audits Government agency spending on procurement 
  • $900,000 to assist local businesses to become tender ready 

To ensure the continuation of a sustainable forestry industry:

  • $15 million over ten years for a new Centre for Excellence to create a long-term Forestry Research and Development capability
  • $2 million over three years to develop a Forest Products Domestic Manufacturing and Infrastructure Masterplan, including a focus on future skills needs.
  •  $2 million to replace fire towers with new technologies

Environment 

  • $4.8 million over four years to employ 15 new Aboriginal rangers
  • $6 million to fund heritage agreements on privately managed properties
  • $1 million to employ a State Landcare Coordinator to support volunteer groups and run small grant programs
  • $3 million for Friends of Parks groups to work in national parks on weeding, planting, seed collecting and other nature restoration activities
  • $2 million to appoint an eminent jurist to be the Commissioner for the River Murray in SA.
    • The Commissioner will report annually to parliament, will deal with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, will advise the government and will be someone who irrigators, environmentalists and communities can work with on their challenges in water management. 
  • $1 million funding increase to the RSPCA over four years to enforce animal welfare laws. 
  • $1 million funding increase to the Conservation Council of South Australia ensure community voice is properly heard when decisions affecting the environment are being made. 
  • Establish a $3 million Biodiversity Coordination Unit in the Department for Environment and Water to work with university researchers on the management of the environmental impact of pests, weeds and abundant species. 
  • $593 million to build a new hydrogen-fired Combined Cycle Turbine:
    • $220 million for a 250MWe electrolyser 
    •  $31 million for 3,600 tonnes of liquefied hydrogen storage 
    •  $342 million for a 200 MW CCT power station
  • Create the Aldinga Washpool Conservation Park by consolidating the land holdings of various state government agencies and granting Conservation Park status to the land 
  • Update the Animal Welfare Act to ensure it reflects community expectations to protect animals
  • Ban puppy factories

Community 

  • Grants of up to $10,000 to local RSL’s  
  • $25,000 to the RSL ANZAC Day Committee  
  • $16 million over four years to the multicultural budget to identify and respond to racial and religious intolerance as well as coordinate grants which celebrate culture and language. 
  • $200,000 per year to empower Recfish SA as a strong, independent representative voice on recreational fishing. 
  • $80 million for a new Adelaide Aquatic Centre.
  •  $1 million grant program for women’s and men’s sheds
    • $120k already allocated to support the Playford Women’s Shed
  •  $2 million to restart the Treaty Process

Emergency and Corrective Services 

  •  $2 million to help victims of child sexual abuse go through court processes as well as to support their recovery from trauma
  • $1 million in funding to establish two domestic violence prevention and recovery hubs. 
  • $4.5million for an additional 1500 custom-made multi-purpose load-bearing vests to protect all police and protective security officers while carrying out their duties

Tourism and Live Events 

  • $20 million over the next two years for the Tourism Marketing Fund
  • $40 million over the next four years to the Major Events Fund 
  • $8 million to support the Adelaide Fringe Festival 
  • $2 million in the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) to support it moving to an annual festival
  • A commitment to back the Adelaide 500 and reinstating the Adelaide Motorsport Festival 
    • $2 million for grants to registered classic and historical car clubs so they can better meet the growing operating costs, including managing the conditional registration scheme
  • A  $10 million support package to support artists who have lost work during the pandemic as well as to help venues host live music. 
  • $1.6 million over four years to the Tourism Industry Council of South Australia to provide capacity building through workshops and one-to-one business coaching

For more information, please contact your Hawker Britton Consultant Simon Banks on +61 419 648 587 or Stephen Halliday on +61 418 808 799. 

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Simon Banks

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