2022 South Australian Senate Election

• Re-elected 1 – Simon Birmingham (Liberal)
• Re-elected 2 – Penny Wong (Labor)
• Re-elected 3 – Andrew McLachlan (Liberal)
• Re-elected 4 – Don Farrell (Labor)
• Elected 5 – Barbara Pocock (Greens)
• Elected 6 – Kerrynne Liddle (Liberal)
• Defeated – Stirling Griff (Centre Alliance)
• Defeated – Rex Patrick (Rex Patrick Team)

Party Summary: Ex-Nick Xenophon Team Senators Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff have been defeated (-2), replaced by Greens (+1) and Liberal (+1).

Post includes analysis of the preference flows that determined who won the final seat.

Commentary on Result

The South Australian Senate positions facing election in 2022 were those allocated six-year terms after the 2016 double dissolution election. That was the election where the Nick Xenophon Team recorded a record vote, resulting in the six seats splitting two Liberal, two Labor and two Nick Xenophon Team. After Xenophon left the Senate for an unsuccessful tilt at SA state politics, his former party’s support evaporated. That left his former party’s two seats under threat in 2022.

The four sitting major party Senators have been re-elected. For Labor Penny Wong and Don Farrell are re-elected, as are Liberals Simon Birmingham and Andrew McLachlan. McLachlan had been appointed to the Senate in early 2020 following the resignation of ex-Liberal Senator Corey Bernardi.

Both cross bench Senators have been defeated. Rex Patrick was appointed to the Senate in November 2017 after Xenophon’s resignation. He broke with the party and re-contested unsuccessfuly for his own party, the Rex Patrick Team. Nick Xenophon re-emerged to run on an Independent ticket with Stirling Griff as number two. Both were defeated.

The Greens have gained one of the seats with the election Barbara Pocock. The final seat went to the Liberal Party’s third candidate Kerrynne Liddle.

First Preference Results Table

Enrolment – 1,272,047
Total Votes / Turnout – 1,162,472, 91.4% of enrolment
Informal Votes – 33,948 (2.9%)
Provisional Quota – 161,218
Below-the-line Vote – 7.2%
Last Update – Saturday, 11 June 2022, 20:43

The first four vacancies were quickly filled, re-electing the two sitting Liberal and two sitting Labor Senators. Then began the exclusion of the lowest polling candidates and the transfer of their preferences. By count 185, 39 candidates had been excluded and only eight candidates remained. The totals for each candidate, percentage votes and quotas are shown in the table below. The ‘Transfers’ column shows the change in vote total between the remaining candidates and the candidate’s original vote total. The Labor and Liberal totals also exclude votes representing two filled quotas for votes.

The Greens gained more preferences than other parties from excluded candidates, pushing the party’s lead candidate Barbara Pocock to 0.9682 quotas. All other parties remained in the same partial quota order as on the tally of first preference votes.

Counts 186-190 excluded Ian Markos of the Liberal Democrats from the first column on the ballot paper. The Liberals were in column C and 52% of LDP preferences flowed to the Liberal Party’s Kerrynne Liddle widening her lead over One Nation.

Counts 191-95 excluded Tyler Green of Legalise Cannabis. 31.5% of preferences flowed to the Greens electing Barbara Pocock to the fifth vacancy. It also narrowed the gap between Labor and One Nation.

Count 196 distributed the small Green surplus. 67.7% of Green preferences flowed to Labor Trimann Gill, moving ahead of One Nation’s Jennifer Game.

Counts 197-202 excluded Nick Xenophon. His preferences flowed 38.2% to Labor, 29.8% to Liberal, 11.1% to One Nation, 6.5% to United Australia while 14.5% of Xenophon’s preferences exhausted. This put both major parties well ahead of One Nation.

Counts 203-208 excluded the UAP’s Michael Arbon. Of UAP votes, 58.1% flowed to One Nation’s Jennifer Game, putting her ahead of Labor’s Trimann Gill. 12.9% of UAP preferences flowed to Liberal, 12.4% to Labor and 16.7% exhausted. Liberal Kerrynne Liddle led One Nation’s Jennifer Game by 9,950 votes with Labor’s Trimann Gill 8,015 further behind and set to be the next excluded candidate.

Counts 209-214 excluded Labor’s Trimann Gill. 53.0% of Labor preferences exhausted, 36.0% to the Liberal Party and 11.0% to One Nation. This left Liberal Kerrynne Liberal on 0.8684 quotas to 0.6679 quotas for One Nation’s Jennifer Game, a lead of 32,336. With no more candidates to exclude, Liddle was declared elected to the final vacancy. A total of 74,754 votes had exhausted their preferences before choosing between Liberal and One Nation, in total 6.62% of all votes or just under half a quota on 0.4637.

The South Australian preference distribution shows the same trend as seen in all mainland states at the last two election. With voters now controlling preferences in the new electoral system, they clearly tend to send preferences towards the best known parties – the Labor Party, Liberal Party, the Greens and One Nation. The same parties that attract most votes also tend to attract the most preferences.