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This article is about Xenophon's state party formed in 2017. For his former state electoral ticket active until 2013, see No Pokies.

SA-BEST
FoundedMay 2017 (as Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST)
Registered4 July 2017
IdeologySocial liberalism
Political positionCentre
Colours    Orange and black
SloganReal change you can trust
SA Legislative Council
1 / 22
Website
sabest.org.au

SA-Best (stylised SA-BEST), formerly known as Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST, is a political party in South Australia. It was founded in 2017 by Nick Xenophon as a state-based partner to his Nick Xenophon Team party (renamed to Centre Alliance in early 2018).[1] After an unsuccessful 2022 South Australian state election, the party has one representative in the South Australian Legislative Council, Connie Bonaros, whose term expires in 2026.

History

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Formation

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The party was registered on 4 July 2017.[2] John Darley was the sole Nick Xenophon Team member in the South Australian Parliament until he left the party to become an independent on 17 August 2017.[3]

On 6 October 2017, Xenophon announced that he would be leaving the Federal Senate to contest the state seat of Hartley at the 2018 state election.[4] Xenophon resigned from the Senate on 31 October 2017.

At its 2018 annual general meeting,[when?] the South Australian party officially changed its name from Nick Xenophon's SA-Best to SA-Best.

In late 2017, NSW-BEST, VIC-BEST, WA-BEST, QLD-BEST and NT-BEST were registered as business names, leading to speculation that the party would expand interstate.[5] However, as of 2022, none of these have formed political parties.

2018 South Australian election

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In the March 2018 South Australian election, SA-Best contested thirty-six seats in the South Australian House of Assembly and put forward four candidates for the upper house. The party charged candidates $1,000 to be considered for pre-selection, and a further $20,000 for running in the lower house, or a further $40,000 in the upper house, as well as fund their own local campaign.[citation needed][6]

The thirty-six House of Assembly seats contested were: Badcoe, Chaffey, Cheltenham, Colton, Croydon, Davenport, Dunstan, Elder, Elizabeth, Enfield, Finniss, Gibson, Giles, Hammond, Hartley, Heysen, Hurtle Vale, Kavel, King, Lee, Mackillop, Mawson, Morialta, Morphett, Mount Gambier, Narungga, Newland, Playford, Port Adelaide, Ramsay, Reynell, Schubert, Taylor, Unley, Waite, and Wright.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

The party failed to secure any lower house seats,[13] although there was a close contest in the historically safe Liberal seat of Heysen.[14] Xenophon unsuccessfully contested Hartley and although he came second on the primary vote ahead of Labor's Grace Portolesi by 202 votes, the preference distribution of the eliminated fourth-placed Greens candidate turned Xenophon's 99-vote lead over Portolesi into a 357-vote deficit. Third-placed Xenophon was therefore eliminated, with Hartley reverting to the traditional Liberal vs Labor contest.[15][16] The party came second on primary votes in ten seats; the strongest results were in Chaffey, Finniss, and Hartley, where the party received over 25%.[16][17][18]

In the upper house, SA-Best received 19.3% of the voted, securing two seats, with the election of Connie Bonaros and Frank Pangallo.[19][20]

2022 South Australian election

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At the 2022 South Australian election, SA-Best had one lower house candidate (in the seat of Giles), and two upper house candidates. The party received approximately 1.1% of the upper house vote, and no candidates were elected.

Upper house members are elected for eight-year terms; as such, Bonaros and Pangallo’s terms will expire in 2026.

In December 2023, Frank Pangallo left the SA-Best party.[21]

Electoral results

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Legislative Council
Election year # of
overall votes 		% of
overall vote 		# of
overall seats won 		# of
overall seats 		+/– Position
2018 203,364 19.35 (#3)
2 / 11
2 / 22
 Increase 2 Crossbench
2022 11,392 1.05 (#9)
0 / 11
2 / 22
 Steady 0 Crossbench

Representatives

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Legislative Council

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Mayors

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References

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  1. ^ Opie, Rebecca (5 March 2017). "Nick Xenophon launches SA Best party for 2018 South Australian election". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Register of political parties". Electoral Commission of South Australia. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  3. ^ "MLC John Darley quits Nick Xenophon Team in South Australia". ABC. 17 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Nick Xenophon to return to South Australian politics". ABC News (Australia). 6 October 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  5. ^ Workman, Alice (18 January 2018). "Nick Xenophon Is Quietly Expanding His Party Into Victoria And NSW". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Labor accuses Xenophon of failing to declare donations". The Australian. - Article is behind a paywall.
  7. ^ "House of Assembly candidates". Electoral Commission of South Australia. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  8. ^ House of Assembly, sabest.org.au. Accessed 24 February 2018.
  9. ^ Electorates, sabest.org.au. Accessed 24 February 2018.
  10. ^ SA-Best announces candidates for Wright and Newland, 15 February 2018, sabest.org.au
  11. ^ SA-Best announces candidates for King and Croydon, 17 February 2018, sabest.org.au
  12. ^ Respected educator announced as SA-Best's candidate for Reynell, Archived 25 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine 21 February 2018, sabest.org.au
  13. ^ "SA Results". SA Election 2018. ABC News (Australia).
  14. ^ "Heysen". SA Election 2018. ABC News (Australia).
  15. ^ 2018 Hartley final distribution of preferences: ECSA
  16. ^ a b Hartley election results: ABC
  17. ^ "Chaffey". SA Election 2018. ABC News (Australia).
  18. ^ "Finniss". SA Election 2018. ABC News (Australia).
  19. ^ "Legislative Council results". SA Election 2018. ABC News (Australia).
  20. ^ Kathryn Bermingham (13 July 2017). "Former Today Tonight journalist Frank Pangallo to take up role as media adviser to Nick Xenophon". The Advertiser. news.com.au.
  21. ^ https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/former-journalist-frank-pangallo-quits-sabest-after-falling-out-with-colleague-connie-bonaros/news-story/b85c7468122827313aa7d755fb3c9058 [bare URL]
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