Liberal Party gains seats of Bright, Hartley and Mt Gambier, but will it be enough to beat Labor?

THE margins have been tight – some ministers have fallen, other electorates are still to close too call. Here’s a look at the fight for victory in some of SA’s closest seats.

THE margins have been tight – some ministers have fallen, other electorates are still to close too call. Here’s a look at the fight for victory in some of SA’s closest seats.

News_Image_File: Former member for Bright Chloe Fox casts her vote. BRIGHT

EMBATTLED Cabinet Minister Chloë Fox is staring into the abyss in one of the state’s most marginal electorates.

With more than two-thirds of the vote counted, the Transport Services Minister had received 47.3 per cent of two party preferred vote in Bright compared to 52.7 per cent for David Speirs, her Scottish-born Liberal opponent.

The seaside seat, which takes in a swathe of middle class coastal suburbs in Adelaide’s south-west, was expected to be the first domino to fall to the Liberals.

But both parties declared it was “too close to call” despite victory being called to the Liberals by the ABC just before 9pm.

The Liberal Party had invested huge resources into the seat, which extends south from Somerton Park to Hallett Cove and it represented a key electorate for them to form government.

Having entered the election a self-confessed “underdog”, Ms Fox, 43, told the Sunday Mail it could be days before a result is known with postal votes to be counted and preferences allocated — a similar scenario to that she faced in 2010.

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She said the voter backlash appeared to have been countered despite predictions of a mass swing and the expected commuter fury over poor transport mute — a vast change from 12 months ago when she thought she would convincingly lose.

Experts had predicted voter anger around transport issues, which Ms Fox was a public face of, particularly over the Noarlunga line, which had remained closed for more than year and has only just reopened.

“The sense of entitlement down here by the Liberals has been palpable,” she said, surrounded by supporters at the Esplanade Hotel in Brighton.

“People have asked me why I look so happy — it is because I did not think we would have got such a close race.”

First-time candidate Mr Speirs, 29, was with his wife of 11 months, Hannah, a 21-year-old nursing student, and supporters a short distance away at the Brighton Surf Club.

“We are certainly not claiming victory tonight,” the former public servant said. “We think it is too close to call. We have had some encouraging results but it has been patchy in parts.”

Over the past 12 months Ms Fox, 43, has faced public transport chaos, a legal row with The Advertiser’s cartoon flamingo Fandango and intervention from her famous and “embarrassing” mother, who said she should quit politics.

They were compounded by an electorate boundary change, leaving her Labor’s most marginal MP.

News_Image_File: Former member for Hartley Grace Portolesi attends the Mela Indian Festival in Elder Park on state election day. Picture: Calum Robertson HARTLEY

IN Labor’s most marginal seat, Employment Minister Grace Portolesi looks likely to have been swept aside by the anti-Labor swing and a redistribution which brought Liberal-leaning booths into her electorate of Hartley.

Law and commerce graduate Vincent Tarzia was on target to represent the east suburban seat although Ms Portolesi clung to hope.

A councillor for the city of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters, Mr Tarzia said he was passionate about politics and grew up in the area.

“I’d love to see Hartley be the best it can be,” he said.

“We’ve got a positive plan.”

Both candidates drew on their heritage in an electorate with a high proportion of Italian migrants.

Trailing in the count, Ms Portolesi said she was “not too proud to concede defeat tonight but the numbers are jumping around too much”.

“My advice is not to concede tonight, we will have to wait for pre-poll and postals.”

Ms Portolesi said she preferred to be ahead with this much of the vote counted but it was too difficult to call.

With a margin of just 0.1 per cent - or 47 votes - Hartley was likely to be one of the first seats to fall but early booths put Labor ahead before her lead slipped, putting her behind Mr Tarzia. “Clearly it was going to be tough and there was a good chance that we would lose even though we were campaigning to win,” she said.

Ms Portolesi said she was proud of her campaign but the new booths included dyed-in-the-wool Liberal supporters who were likely to elect a Liberal candidate.

As polls were about to close, Ms Portolesi attended her likely last function, representing the Premier at a festival in Elder Park. Wearing a sari, she said the Mela Festival was the biggest event of the year for the Indian community.

News_Image_File: New Member for Mt Gambier Troy Bell at Mt Gambier High School. Picture: Lechelle Earl MT GAMBIER

MOUNT Gambier is poised to return to the Liberal fold for the first time in 17 years as newcomer Troy Bell established a strong lead over independent Don Pegler.

Mr Bell won a swing of around 8 per cent in the south-east electorate to the Liberal Party, giving it a crucial seat as it attempted to win the six seats it needed to form government in its own right.

The Liberals last held the seat in 1997 but lost it in the election that year to independent Rory McEwen.

“I am very, very happy with the result, we have been campaigning full time for 12 months, the hard work has paid off,” Mr Bell said.

“I am surprised by the swing but I think it is more a reflection on our community wanting to change the government and have a representative within a Liberal government, more so than any reflection on Don as a person.

“My first priorities will be working with whoever is in government regarding the issues that are down here. Those issues will be fracking, our health services, both traditional and mental health, but first and foremost is investment in our region. ”

MORE: Police intervene in Elder tension

News_Image_File: Liberal candidate for Ashford Terina Monteagle at Clarence Park Community Centre on election day. Picture: Bianca De Marchi ASHFORD

LABOR will hold Ashford for another four years, adding to the existing 16-year string of occupancy, after local MP Stephanie Key again won the inner south-western seat.

Ms Key arrived at West Adelaide Football Club, where Labor had gathered for an election night function, with a posse of about 60 supporters chanting her name.

“We’re hopeful, but I’m always cautious,” Ms Key said.

The party claimed the win about 8.30pm after calculating a win over 52.2 per cent of votes on two-party-preferred basis, after counting 94.4 per cent of ballet papers.

But a clear outcome would not be known until pre-poll and postal votes were counted in a couple of days, a Liberal spokeswoman warned.

The electorate is one of the three most marginal Labor seats after Hartley and Bright and was a key plank in the Liberal strategy of claiming six seats to form government in ts own right. Ms Key had to vote outside her electorate for the first time yesterday as suburbs to the north, including Richmond and Marleston, were lost to West Torrens after boundary changes in 2012. The changes lost her crucial Labor voters, but Ms Key was not nervous about losing her seat.

Her Liberal opposer Terina Monteagle, a fresh face to politics since becoming a local candidate in late 2012, was quietly confident and hopeful. “It’s been a long campaign but I’ve been humbled by how many people have come to me in confidence and asked me for help,” Ms Monteagle said.

News_Image_File: Member for Mitchell Alan Sibbons with family members in his electorate. Picture: Dean Martin MITCHELL

A SIGNIFICANT swing away from former independent MP Kris Hanna has helped the Liberals in the marginal southern suburbs seat of Mitchell.

Liberal candidate Corey Wingard made the greatest gain at Mr Hanna’s expense, while sitting ALP member Alan Sibbons saw little change to the first preference votes he received compared to the last election.

Early first preference voting results showed the Liberals had increased their vote from 28.7 per cent in 2010 to a percentage in the mid-30s, while Mr Hanna’s vote fell from 28 per cent to around 18 per cent.

On a two party preferred basis, this left the Liberals just a shade ahead of the ALP, but the result remains in limbo.

Mr Sibbons, who won the seat from Mr Hanna in 2010, went into the election with a slim 2.4 per cent majority.

All three major candidates believed the fight for victory would go down to the wire.

A poll run in The Advertiser on Friday found 38 per cent of voters in the electorate supported the ALP, 36 per cent the Liberal Party and 19 per cent Mr Hanna.

Mr Sibbons said he was a “little surprised’’ at the extent of the swing of voters from Mr Hanna to the Liberals.

“I would have expected more to go to Labor,’’ he said last night.

Mr Wingard was naturally anxious as he watched the votes roll in.

“As it stands it looks like Kris will finish third and the preferences from his votes will determine the outcome,’’ Mr Wingard, a former TV sports presenter, said.

Adelaide University politics expert Professor Clem MacIntyre said preferential voting may be crucial to the outcome and the result for the seat may not be known this weekend.

Among the major issues for the electorate – which includes the suburbs of Reynella, Sheidow Park, Seaview Downs and Seacombe Gardens – was the traffic congestion at the junction of Diagonal and Morphett roads at Oaklands Park.

Voters also expressed their worries over cost-of-living pressures and education facilities for their children to the candidates.

News_Image_File: Member for Newland Tom Kenyon at the Modbury Sporting Complex. Picture: Tom Huntley NEWLAND

MORALE was high at Newland incumbent Tom Kenyon’s post-election party, despite the fact a clear winner was still undecided.

The Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade Minister was joined by family, volunteers, supporters and those of fellow Labor MP and Florey MP Frances Bedford at the Modbury Sporting Club.

The count was sitting on a knife’s edge at 9pm on Saturday night, when 71 per cent of the first preference for the Newland electorate was counted, Mr Kenyon sat on 51.7 per cent, narrowly in front of Liberal counterpart Glenn Docherty, who was on 48.3 per cent.

The room was hoping for a triple celebration, as Mr Kenyon’s daughter Rachel was also celebrating her 13th birthday at the function.

Mr Kenyon told the Sunday Mail he was feeling the pinch, after a few booths that usually went his way swung to the Liberals.

“I was very nervous early on and still am,” he said.

“The results have been very patchy this year. Usually the results from each booth are really uniformed, but they’ve been all over the place today.

“I lost some booths early on, but now it’s starting to swing back, so we will see.

“Once the Ridgehaven booth is counted, I think we will have a better idea of who might win.”

The 42-year-old cast an early vote and opted out of visiting polling booths in the northeast, preferring to focus on making his daughter’s special day memorable by taking the family to the Beach House at Glenelg.

He was promoted into the ministerial position last year and took charge of the Indian and Chinese trade strategies and the government’s manufacturing policies developed by his predecessor, Tom Koustsantonis.

News_Image_File: Member for Mawson Leon Bignell spending time with his son Conor, 15, at Hackham Football Club. MAWSON

MAWSON MP Leon Bignell has retained his seat, winning his third election in a row.

The Labor MP was able to resist the challenge from Liberal candidate Stephen Annells, who mounted a strong 18-month campaign.

The Tourism, Recreation and Sport Minister claimed victory of the southern seat after more than 46 per cent of the votes had been counted.

At his post-election party at Hackham’s Mick O’Shea’s Irish Pub, Mr Bignell said he would continue to fight hard for the south.

“I’m going to keep working hard for my 22,000 constituents and the people down here,” Mr Bignell said.

“I’ll work for the struggling families, small and big business, community groups and sporting organisations.

“Everyone who needs my support will get it just as I’ve don for the past eight years.”

The former journalist, who has held the seat since 2006, spent the day with his 15-year-old son Conor at the Willunga Farmers Market, Hackham East Primary School fete and at a trial football game between McLaren Football Club and Hackham Football Club.

The 47-year-old entered politics eight years ago, defeating former Liberal minister Rob Brokenshire for the seat. He retained it in 2010.

Before the votes had been counted, Liberal candidate for Mawson Stephen Annells said he was proud of his campaign for the Labor-held seat.

News_Image_File: Liberal Party candidate for Ramsay Anthony Antoniadis on his computer at Ingle Farm shopping centre in February. Picture: Mark Brake RAMSAY

ALTHOUGH this safe Labor seat in Adelaide’s north was never going to be closely-fought, it has been in the spotlight.

Early in the campaign, the local Liberal candidate called northern suburbs residents smelly and work-shy in a series of Facebook posts between 2010 and this year.

The controversial Liberal candidate disappeared from view on election day, refusing to release any details of where he was voting.

Mr Antoniadis went from obscure candidate in an unwinnable seat for the Liberal Party to statewide notoriety after a number of his Facebook posts denigrating his potential constituents were made public.

Mr Antoniadis, who runs the Parabanks newsagency, described people in the area as smelly and lazy and said some of them were poor parents.

Under Mr Antoniadis’ name on his Facebook page were posts such as: “mmmm,yum!!! I love it when I can smell customers from 10 meters (sic) away!!!! #5108 #lynx #niveaformen #isle (sic)14 #woolworths’’.

He also made fun of customers who played the newsagency’s Keno gambling game. “Welcome to SALISBURY: A mother speaking to her 6 year-old son ... -Get out of my f*@%ing way and sit down. I want to play Keno’.’’ Other posts asked whether some of his constituents wanted to work and mocked their dress sense.

Mr Antoniadis’ opponent Labor’s Zoe Bettison yesterday made the most of his embarrassment, decorating polling booths with signs saying “5108 proud’’. The number is the postcode for Salisbury.

She easily won the seat, which she already held by a 17.8 per cent margin.

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