Federal Election 2019: Three-way race for last two SA Senate seats

South Australia’s final two senate spots look set to be a three-way race between parties which are polar opposites — making it one of the most fascinating contests in the country.

• South Australia’s Senate race tightening up

South Australia’s final two senate spots look set to be a three-way race between the Greens, Centre Alliance and One Nation, new polling shows, making it the most fascinating contests in the country.

Polling conducted by The Australia Institute shows the Liberals Senator Lucy Gichuhi looks set to lose her spot with only room for two senators from each of the major parties.

For the first time in ten years the Federal Election will be contested without the overt of presence of Nick Xenophon.

Centre Alliance’s senate candidate Skye Kakoschke-Moore will have a battle on her hands to return to the Senate as she battles it with Greens Sarah Hanson-Young and One Nation’s Jennifer Game.

The polling shows Centre Alliance has 6.9 per cent of support - just marginally up from One Nation on 6.3 per cent.

The Australia Institute’s SA projects manager Noah Schultz-Byard told The Sunday Mail the final, nationwide make-up of the Senate is balanced on a knife’s edge.

“This means the outcome here in SA will be crucial for whichever major party forms government,” Mr Schultz-Byard said.

“The Greens and Centre Alliance are both hoping to retake a seat previously held by their respective parties and One Nation is potentially in a position to win their first ever Senate seat in South Australia.”

“Regardless of which party gets a majority in the Lower House though, our research shows that nationally they won’t gain control of the Senate in their own right.

“That means extra attention needs to be paid to the Senate races in states like South Australia, where the result is anything but guaranteed.”

The polling, of 519 South Australians undertaken by Dynata earlier this week, found support for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party was growing slowly.

National polling by the Australian Institute suggested if the Coalition were to win government they would still need to negotiate with One Nation and Centre Alliance meaning the South Australian party could again play a key role in the Parliament.