SA-Best
SA-BEST (stylised SA-BEST) is a centrist political party in South Australia, founded in 2017 by Nick Xenophon, a former independent Senator known for his populist advocacy on state economic issues such as manufacturing decline and energy costs.[1][2] The party positioned itself as an alternative to the major parties, emphasising accountability and pragmatic reforms tailored to South Australian concerns, drawing from Xenophon's history of independent campaigning against gambling expansion.[3] In the 2018 state election, SA-BEST achieved a primary vote of approximately 14 percent but secured no seats in the House of Assembly due to preferences and candidate inexperience, though it won one position in the Legislative Council.[4] Following the election, Xenophon resigned amid reports of internal divisions and leadership challenges, leaving the party to continue under subsequent figures including Legislative Council member Connie Bonaros, who has pursued legislative measures on child protection and justice reform.[5][6] As of 2025, SA-BEST maintains a presence in the upper house, advocating for evidence-based policies amid ongoing critiques of major party dominance in state politics.[6]Origins and Formation
Founding by Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon, who had served as an independent member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1997 to 2007 and as an independent Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017, built a political career advocating for state-specific interests against perceived federal neglect.[7] His approach emphasized crossbench influence, often prioritizing South Australian economic concerns over national party alignments, as demonstrated by his re-election in 2013 with over 12% of the vote.[8] In 2016, Xenophon expanded his platform by registering the Nick Xenophon Team federally, securing three Senate seats and one lower house seat in the 2016 federal election, which served as a precursor to his state-level initiative by highlighting voter dissatisfaction with major parties.[9] On March 5, 2017, Xenophon announced the formation of SA-BEST as a new political party explicitly aimed at contesting the 2018 South Australian state election, framing it as a vehicle to "shake up" the state's politics dominated by Labor and Liberal.[10] This launch followed mounting frustrations with federal and state governments' handling of South Australia's economic woes, including the closure of General Motors Holden's manufacturing plant in Elizabeth in late 2017, which contributed to localized unemployment rates exceeding 30% in affected areas and broader manufacturing job losses estimated at thousands statewide.[11] [12] Xenophon cited these developments, alongside job cuts at the Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC)—including 640 positions by the end of 2017 amid delays in the Collins-class submarine sustainment and future SEA 1000 contracts—as evidence of systemic disregard for South Australia's industrial base by the major parties' duopoly.[13] Xenophon's motivations centered on breaking the cycle of state economic decline under alternating Labor and Liberal governance, pointing to South Australia's position as having the nation's highest unemployment rate in 2016-2017, alongside sluggish growth in manufacturing and reliance on fading sectors like automotive assembly.[11] [13] He positioned SA-BEST as a state-focused alternative, drawing on his independent track record to appeal to voters seeking representation unbound by federal priorities or interstate influences, with an emphasis on empirical indicators of underperformance such as the loss of approximately 60,000 manufacturing jobs nationally but disproportionately impacting South Australia.[14] This initiative reflected his long-standing critique that major parties treated South Australia as an afterthought, prioritizing broader national or ideological agendas over localized causal factors like industry-specific policy failures.[11]Initial Organizational Setup and Recruitment
Following its launch on 5 March 2017, SA-Best established a basic organizational framework centered on contesting the March 2018 state election, with Xenophon serving as the initial public face while emphasizing decentralized candidate-led campaigns across targeted electorates.[15] The party prioritized rapid structuring to capitalize on voter dissatisfaction with the major parties' handling of South Australia's economic stagnation and governance issues, such as manufacturing decline and fiscal mismanagement, which had fostered widespread apathy toward traditional politics.[15] By mid-2017, SA-Best had registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission of South Australia and begun building a volunteer base drawn from communities affected by these state-specific challenges, aiming to translate localized grievances into broader mobilization without relying on established party infrastructure.[16] Candidate recruitment commenced in earnest during the second half of 2017, targeting individuals outside career politics to enhance credibility and counter perceptions of the party as a mere extension of Xenophon's personal brand.[17] The process involved public calls for expressions of interest, followed by vetting for alignment with the party's pragmatic, state-focused platform, with announcements of nominees starting in September and continuing into early 2018.[17] [18] Recruits included defectors from major parties, such as former Liberal candidates and local councillors disillusioned with their originals' internal dynamics, alongside community representatives seeking alternatives to entrenched partisanship.[19] [20] This approach appealed to anti-establishment sentiments by highlighting candidates' independent credentials, though it encountered setbacks, including the disendorsement of at least one nominee in October 2017 over a prior social media post deemed inconsistent with party standards.[18] By nomination close in early 2018, SA-Best had assembled a slate of 36 candidates for House of Assembly seats, strategically focusing on winnable urban and regional electorates rather than a blanket statewide run, to optimize limited resources amid volunteer-driven operations.[21] [22] Initial funding derived primarily from small private donations and Xenophon's networks, supplemented by grassroots volunteer efforts that emphasized door-knocking and community forums to link electoral disengagement directly to unaddressed policy failures under successive Labor and Liberal governments.[15] This mobilization underscored a causal view that systemic governance shortcomings—evident in South Australia's lagging GDP growth and unemployment persistence—had eroded trust, positioning SA-Best's recruits as outsiders equipped to restore accountability without ideological baggage.[15]Ideology and Policy Positions
Core Principles and Populist Appeal
SA-BEST positions itself as a centrist political force emphasizing pragmatic governance tailored to South Australia's specific economic and social challenges, prioritizing state self-interest over national partisan alignments. Founded by Nick Xenophon in 2017, the party advocates a "SA first" approach, focusing on empirical realities such as the state's manufacturing decline and reliance on federal funding, rather than adherence to left-right ideological dogmas that often disadvantage regional needs.[23][15] This centrist stance draws from Xenophon's prior independent advocacy, rejecting federal overreach that sidelines state priorities like infrastructure investment and export competitiveness.[15] The party's critique of major parties centers on their susceptibility to groupthink and ideological rigidity, which it argues leads to policies disconnected from verifiable state data, such as persistent regional disparities in employment and services. SA-BEST promotes realism over loyalty to Canberra-centric agendas, positioning itself as an antidote to the major parties' failure to address SA's unique vulnerabilities, including over-dependence on automotive and defense sectors.[23] This rejection fosters a populist appeal by framing governance as a direct challenge to entrenched bureaucracies that perpetuate inefficiency through unexamined partisan commitments.[15] Core to SA-BEST's framework is a commitment to transparency and anti-corruption measures as mechanisms to curb bureaucratic waste and restore merit-based decision-making, exemplified by legislative pushes to strengthen the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).[24] Populist elements include advocacy for enhanced public input tools, resonating amid low institutional trust; for instance, only 33.4% of Australians express trust in the political system, with SA's youth unemployment historically exceeding national averages at 17.2% in 2017, underscoring demands for accountable, state-focused reforms.[25][26]Economic and State-Specific Policies
SA-BEST advocated for the revival of South Australia's manufacturing sector, particularly in response to the closure of Holden's Elizabeth plant in 2017, which resulted in over 2,000 direct job losses and threatened the local supply chain. Party founder Nick Xenophon, drawing from his prior federal advocacy, emphasized government support for automotive and related industries to prevent early closures and sustain employment, arguing that failure to bolster parts manufacturing would accelerate industry decline.[27][28] The party criticized the state's heavy reliance on intermittent renewable energy sources without sufficient baseload capacity, linking this to South Australia's highest residential electricity prices in Australia—averaging 38.6 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2017—and frequent blackouts, such as the statewide event in September 2016. SA-BEST proposed constructing a new gas-fired power station to provide reliable baseload generation, aiming to reduce prices by up to 20% through a mix of sources rather than renewables alone, while acknowledging climate change but prioritizing affordability and grid stability over rapid decarbonization.[29][30] State-specific measures included incentives for private sector investment in regional infrastructure to address South Australia's GDP per capita lag—$54,000 in 2017 compared to the national $60,000—and counter urban-rural job disparities, with proposals for targeted funding in defense manufacturing and tourism to create sustainable employment outside Adelaide. These policies positioned SA-BEST against perceived over-subsidization of unproven technologies, favoring evidence from job loss data and energy reliability metrics to justify pragmatic incentives like streamlined approvals over broad regulatory expansion.[31]Social and Governance Stances
SA-BEST supports stringent measures to address crime, including tougher sentencing for repeat offenders and increased investment in frontline policing to prioritize community safety over rehabilitative leniency, which the party argues fails to deter recidivism amid persistent property crime challenges in South Australia.[32] The party has called for data-informed strategies, such as enhanced victim support through funded legal aid and a comprehensive review of the Victims of Crime Act 2001 to expand eligibility and levies for compensation.[33] [34] In legislative efforts, SA-BEST members have advocated restoring powers to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to bolster investigative independence and transparency in governance.[35] On education, SA-BEST emphasizes practical, employability-focused reforms, promoting vocational pathways and skills training in technical fields to equip students for South Australia's labor market needs, rather than prioritizing progressive ideological elements in curricula. The party's platform aligns with broader calls for strengthening technical and further education institutions like TAFE SA to reduce youth disconnection from employment opportunities.[36] Regarding immigration and welfare, SA-BEST critiques federal-level policies for permitting unsustainable influxes that overburden state infrastructure and welfare provisions, advocating instead for regionally calibrated intake limits to ensure South Australia's resources—such as housing and services—can support new arrivals without compromising local priorities. This stance reflects founder Nick Xenophon's long-held view that unchecked migration exacerbates economic pressures on smaller states like South Australia.[37]Electoral Participation
2018 South Australian State Election
The SA-BEST party entered the 2018 South Australian state election, held on 17 March 2018, amid widespread voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent Labor government following the statewide blackout of September 2016 and subsequent energy reliability issues, compounded by economic challenges including high unemployment rates exceeding 6% and youth joblessness around 15% in key regions.[38] These factors fueled anti-major-party sentiment, enabling SA-BEST to position itself as a centrist alternative emphasizing state-specific fixes like job creation through infrastructure and criticism of federal-state policy disconnects.[39] Pre-election polls reflected this momentum, with one December 2017 survey showing SA-BEST at 32% primary support, outpacing Labor's 27% and the Liberals' 20%, though later seat-level polling tempered expectations to around 20-21% due to the need for concentrated votes in single-member districts.[3][40][41] SA-BEST contested all 47 House of Assembly seats and achieved a statewide primary vote of approximately 14%, a notable debut surge for a new party but insufficient to secure any lower house victories.[42] The party's vote was geographically dispersed, with stronger showings in Adelaide's outer suburbs and regional areas like Fisher (where leader Nick Xenophon polled over 20% but lost on preferences) and Mawson, yet nowhere reaching the quota needed after preference distribution under the optional preferential system.[43] In the Legislative Council, SA-BEST's upper house primary vote similarly hovered around 14%, translating to two seats via proportional representation: those held by candidates Frank Pangallo and Julia Szlakowski, who benefited from the party's broader appeal in a multi-member contest.[16][42] Despite the primary vote strength, SA-BEST's failure to convert support into lower house seats stemmed from structural electoral dynamics favoring major parties in single-member electorates, where minor party votes must cluster to compete effectively. Preference flows were erratic, with SA-BEST how-to-vote cards directing support variably but voter behavior often prioritizing strategic anti-Labor votes to the Liberals, who ultimately secured a majority government under Steven Marshall.[42] Candidate inexperience also played a role, as many SA-BEST nominees lacked prior political seasoning, leading to gaffes and vulnerability to negative campaigning from major parties, unions, and interest groups like the poker machine lobby.[44] This underperformance highlighted systemic barriers for emerging parties, including dispersed voter bases and the dominance of two-party preferred outcomes, even as SA-BEST drew votes from both Labor (hit by energy policy fallout) and Liberals (frustrated by federal ties).[4][42]2022 South Australian State Election
The 2022 South Australian state election occurred on 19 March 2022, following the dissolution of parliament on 23 February. SA-BEST fielded candidates in all 47 House of Assembly seats and the Legislative Council, but achieved a primary vote of 1.68% in the lower house and 1.49% in the upper house, resulting in no seats won.[45] This marked a collapse from the party's 2018 performance, where it polled 14.15% in the House of Assembly, reflecting voter realignment toward the major parties amid economic recovery from COVID-19 restrictions and reduced appetite for minor-party alternatives.[46]| Election Year | House of Assembly Primary Vote | Seats Won (HoA/LC) |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 14.15% | 0 / 0 |
| 2022 | 1.68% | 0 / 0 |