Insight into SA’s Senate voting patterns — where fringe parties felt the love

Federal election Senate polling booth data from across the state has provided some fascinating insights, as National Affairs Editor Matt Smith reports. SEE THE DATA

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Pauline Hanson’s One Nation got most of its love from South Australia’s rural centres, while Blakeview voters in Adelaide’s north put the most faith in Clive Palmer on polling day, analysis shows.

As the Australian Electoral Commission continue to count and double-check votes from last month’s federal election, Senate polling booth data from across the state has provided some fascinating insights.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young voting with her daughter Kora last month. Picture: AAP Image/Russell Millard

The Two Wells Primary School booth proved to be the most popular in the state on election day for those wanting to get One Nation and Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party into the Senate.

The Greens’ reputation as the party favoured by inner-city progressives was strengthened, with voters in Adelaide and Brompton providing strong support.

The Green’s also performed well at the Mount Barker polling booth, which was where the Animal Justice Party got its best result.

Support for cannabis decriminalisation was strongest on the day in Andrews Farm and Davoren Park, where the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) Party got its most votes.

Votes cast at pre-polling centres dominate the figures, after more than four million Australians made up their minds before May 18.

SENATE VOTING PATTERNS

However, individual polling booth numbers have shone a light on what people were thinking as they cast their votes on election day.

Rob Manwaring, a senior lecturer in politics at Flinders University, told the Sunday Mail it was not unusual for people to vote differently between the two houses of parliament, with a decision on a senate candidate often made because of single issues.

“We often see a major party vote in the Lower House and then they will look to have a checking vote in the Senate,” he said.

Clive Palmer, whose advertising blitz throughout the campaign was impossible to miss, was most popular in Adelaide’s north.

Senator Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives polled best at booths in the Riverlands, including Berri and Loxton.

Dr Manwaring said it was common for conservative parties to poll well in regional areas.

“There is clearly a very strong nationalist feeling, and those votes tend to be away from metropolitan areas.

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“Votes for parties like One Nation and Fraser Anning, with far-right views, is often an anti-metropolitan view.

“You very rarely see a concentration of that support in metropolitan areas.”

Centre Alliance, which failed to get former senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore over the line, polled most strongly on election day in booths across the electorate of Mayo.

Dr Manwaring said that highlighted the importance of Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie to the party’s brand, following the departure of Nick Xenophon.

None of SA’s Lower House seats changed hands at the election, which Dr Manwaring said made the Senate race even more important.

“Increasingly the share of the pie going to the minor parties is going to increase, and that trend does not look like it is going to change any time soon,” he said.

“This makes it more difficult for future governments to work without the protection of the senate and knowing what the crossbench will look like.”