THE seat of MacKillop could move from the Liberal Party to Nick Xenophon’s SA Best Party at the March election, according to a senior Labor Party figure.
Retired minister Patrick Conlon has made the prediction in the wake of Senator Xenophon’s recent surprise announcement that he will leave federal politics and contest a House of Assembly seat in metropolitan Adelaide.
Mr Conlon spent 17 years in State Parliament and said Mr Xenophon stood a strong chance of claiming victory in this
electorate as well as the seats of MacKillop and Mount Gambier and some electorates in the Adelaide Hills where SA Best has a federal representative.
The SA Best Party has announced six candidates and it is expected to field as many as 20 in the 47 House of Assembly seats.
Last year, Nick Xenophon Team candidate James Stacey attracted around 30pc of the primary vote in the federal election at booths across Millicent and district.
Mr Stacey attracted a strong local following despite being a failed National Party candidate, a non-resident and having undertaken no campaigning in the area.
MacKillop last elected an independent MP 20 years ago when Mitch Williams unseated ex-Liberal leader Dale Baker.
Mr Williams rejoined the Liberal Party in 1999 and has held the seat ever since.
Due to his impending retirement, the Liberal Party has endorsed grazier Nick McBride as its candidate.
Mr McBride said South Australia and in particular its regions need a reformist Marshall Liberal Government.
“Senator Xenophon is prepared to support 20 years of Labor Government, which would be disastrous for South Australia and our region,” Mr McBride said.
“If Nick Xenophon helps deliver another term of Labor government, South Australia’s regions will continue to suffer.
“The best outcome for regional South Australians is a Marshall Liberal Government that will deliver for our communities.
“A Marshall Liberal Government is committed to our regions and will deliver comprehensive policies to create jobs, improve regional health and education services and build the important infrastructure our regions desperately need.”
Senator Xenophon was previously a member of the Legislative Council from 1987 to 1997 and has spent the past decade in the senate.
He has stated that his dissatisfaction with South Australian politics has prompted his move.
“Our state has been falling behind for so long because we have been failed by our state’s political leaders, their parties and institutions,” Senator Xenophon said.
“I’m sick of seeing this contest of low expectations.
“We have a State Government that is tired and cynical, that has abandoned accountability and transparency – Oakden, for instance.
“It is a State Government that has failed to deliver reliable and affordable essential services that we depend on for our core needs for our everyday lives.
“And I’m dismayed the Liberal alternative doesn’t promise anything better.”
Senator Xenophon said the massive power blackout last year and the record power prices were also major factors in his decision to leave Canberra.
“I’ve decided that you can’t fix South Australia’s problems in Canberra without first fixing our broken political system back home,” he said.
“Our state politics is broken, politically bankrupt.
“We have the same old soap opera script between Labor and Liberal, but little real policy debate, let alone solutions for the state’s many troubles.
“South Australian politics has been reduced to a triumph of low expectations – where just keeping the lights on over the next summer will be presented by the government as a major achievement to be lauded and applauded.”
