Peter Malinauskas and his Labor candidates have taken a monumental swing against the outgoing South Australian government under Steven Marshall.
Mr Marshall, who announced on Sunday he would step down as Liberal leader after the landslide loss to Labor, says he “takes full responsibility for the result” and accepts “the will of the people”.
“I thank all my past and current colleagues for their support over the past nine years and will do all that I can to assist the new Liberal leader to succeed,” Mr Marshall said committing to to serve the people of Dunstan.”
Labor in the meantime is on track to win at least 26 seats in South Australia’s 47-seat parliament after the party picked up a 7 per cent foothold over South Australia’s Liberal government.
At least three candidates of Greek heritage are set to be elected in the new SA government under Labor. Tom Koutsantonis, Andrea Michaels, Olivia Savvas with Michaels and Koutsantonis having high chances of moving from shadow ministers into ministerial positions.
Savvas is joining another five women MPs in the South Asurtraloian parliament including, Lucy Hood, Rhiannon Pearce, Erin Thompson and Nadia Clancy.
For the Senate, there is no Greek Australian close to being elected yet while SA-BEST party sat at 1.1 per cent, 18 per cent lower than the previous election. Stavros Pallaras’ Real Change SA got 0.8 per cent and Senators Konstantina Bonarou and Irene Pnevmatikos are still in with a chance.
Labor’s campaign heavily focused on state issues like health and problems around ambulance ramping at hospitals, possibly suggesting what the South Australian electorate felt were important issues.
Labor’s national president, Wayne Swan, said Mr Malinauskas’s win was “a clear message that voters have had enough of Liberal governments that are out of touch with their lives,” adding that “this was not just about rejecting Steven Marshall’s government – it was a rejection of the Liberals’ brand”.
Mr Malinauskas himself said that he is “not going to be ScoMo’s quokka. If they do something I don’t agree with I will stand and fight for our interests”.
