One Nation SA candidate Cory Bernardi says party will be the 'strongest voice of opposition'
Cory Bernardi will lead One Nation's Legislative Council ticket at the state election. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)
In short:
Newly-announced lead SA One Nation candidate Cory Bernardi says there is "no opposition" in South Australia ahead of the March 21 state election.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told a press conference, where party supporters made several interjections during media questions, that Labor was "on notice".
What next?
She said she had not approached SA Liberals, including federal Liberal senator Alex Antic, to join the party ahead of the election.
One Nation's lead candidate for South Australia Cory Bernardi has taken aim at the "two-party duopoly" in the state, with Pauline Hanson issuing a warning to Labor that her party would be "coming for your seats".
This morning, Mr Bernardi joined One Nation Party leader Ms Hanson in Adelaide alongside supporters, who at times interjected during questioning, following yesterday's announcement he would lead its Legislative Council ticket at the upcoming state election.
The former federal Liberal senator said he was "delighted" to return to politics alongside Ms Hanson.
"There's no doubt I'll stay a member of One Nation," Mr Bernardi said.
"Pauline and my views are aligned and, quite frankly if you look at our history, we were both Liberal Party members at one point."
Mr Bernardi said he believed One Nation would provide "the strongest voice of opposition" ahead of the state election.
"There's been no opposition in this state, it's as if the only competition we have between the two major parties is who's going to manage the social, economic and cultural decline slightly less badly than the alternative," Mr Bernardi said.
"We can't accept that anymore.
"Whether we have one seat, we have five seats or 22 seats, we will be the strongest voice of opposition that this government has ever faced."
Cory Bernardi will contest in the upper house in the upcoming South Australian election. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)
Mr Bernardi outlined several issues he hoped to tackle — including removing government "red and green and black and blue tape", addressing the rising cost of living and assessing state debt.
"All the problems we face are a result of the decades of the two-party duopoly which had been more entrenched about looking after their own survival than the betterment of the voters that put them there," he said.
Ms Hanson said having Mr Bernardi on board was "a massive move".
"I'm warning Labor now, you're on notice. We are coming for your seats,"she said.
She said the party would have every SA seat covered in the March 21 election, and said she was not actively trying to recruit Liberals to the party, including federal SA Liberal senator Alex Antic, who had been a rumoured possible candidate this week.
"I haven't spoken to him," she said.
SA's political landscape
Kos Samaras, from RedBridge political consultancy firm, said recent polling conducted by his company, showed support for Ms Hanson's party was at 26 per cent, outperforming the Coalition's combined primary vote of less than 20 per cent.
"One Nation now is the largest conservative party polling in the country, and we are seeing a very significant collapse of the former Coalition parties," he told ABC Radio Adelaide on Monday.
Ashton Hurn says she isn't taking any vote for granted. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)
SA Liberal leader Ashton Hurn, who took the top job in December following the resignation of Vincent Tarzia, told ABC Radio Adelaide today that she was "not taking any vote for granted".
"I have said that before Cory was announced as the lead candidate. I've said that before polling came out. And that's my view today," Ms Hurn said.
At a press conference shortly after, when asked if One Nation's move changed the political landscape in SA, Ms Hurn said it was "changing in general right across the nation".
"The number one cause of that is governments, particularly Labor governments, aren't focusing on the important things,"she said.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said his focus was policy.
"I'm certainly not going to get myself in a position where I'm commenting on personalities that are part of the chaos and turmoil we're seeing on the conservative side of politics. My focus has got to be on the policy," he said.
When asked if he was concerned about the growing support for One Nation, Mr Malinauskas he said "no".
"If I spent all my time commenting on when Liberals quit the Liberal party to fight against the Liberals, it'd be all I do. I've just got to focus on delivering the policy and the vision for the future of our state," he said.
Peter Malinauskas says he is not concerned about the rise in support for One Nation in SA. (ABC News)
SA Greens leader Robert Simms said Mr Bernardi was not a political outsider.
"This guy has more baggage than a 747. He's been in more parties than the Kardashians," Mr Simms said.
"He might be good at shaking hands at the Adelaide Club but he's not going to shake up South Australian politics — he is part of the political establishment."
Mr Bernardi was a Liberal senator in the federal parliament from 2006 until he resigned from the party in 2017 to form his own party, the Australian Conservatives.
His party dissolved just two years later, after attracting less than 1 per cent of the Senate vote at the 2019 federal election.
Under South Australia's upper house system, One Nation will need to attract slightly more than 8 per cent of the vote — through either first preference ballots or preferences — to get Mr Bernardi elected.