Election 2022: Barbara Pocock to become SA’s second Greens senator

SA will have another Greens senator as part of an upper house cross bench that will use its new-found power to push for climate change action.

South Australia’s next Greens senator will launch a push to use controversial water buybacks to secure an extra 450GL for the River Murray, in an upper house where Labor will rely heavily on the crossbench.

Barbara Pocock, an economist and emeritus professor from the Murray Mallee Region, is poised to become the party’s second SA senator after a “Greens slide” in SA.

By Sunday afternoon, Ms Pocock had already secured 13.2 per cent of the SA Senate vote and was firmly on track to win the state’s fifth seat and join fellow Green Sarah Hanson-Young.

It could be weeks before the sixth seat is decided as postal votes and below-the-line votes start slowly being counted.

Claiming victory on Sunday, Ms Pocock vowed to push for action on climate change and the recovery of an extra 450GL to the River Murray by 2024 as part of a promise made to SA under the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

Sarah Hanson Young with Barbara Pocock, who will become the second SA Greens senator. Picture: Keryn Stevens

In comments set to draw the ire of some regional communities, the senator-elect said “we want voluntary buybacks, that’s the way we got to our 450GL that we’re owed”.

A water buyback is a method where the federal government purchases water entitlements from farmers to reduce the volume of water taken out of the river system.

The Coalition scrapped the measure in 2020 but it looks set to return under Labor, which is open to using water buybacks to hit environmental targets.

Senator Hanson-Young said the election result showed a “Greenslide” across SA, particularly in Sturt, Boothby and Adelaide.

“(Voters) know that putting women in politics is good for everyone and they’ve backed us today to do that,” she said.

One Nation candidate Jennifer Game remained in the lead for the sixth seat on Sunday afternoon, but she expected her current vote of 4.1 per cent to remain stagnant.

Independents Nick Xenophon and Senator Rex Patrick were on 2.7 and 2.1 per cent respectively.

In a shock upset that will mark the first time a major party has not held an upper house seat in the ACT, Liberal Zed Seselja was on Sunday looking like he could lose to Wallabies great and climate advocate independent David Pocock once preferences are calculated.

Conservative Liberal and anti-abortion advocate Amanda Stoker also looked set to lose her Queensland Senate seat.

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