Liberal candidate Georgina Downer takes top spot on ballot paper for federal seat of Mayo

High-profile Liberal candidate Georgina Downer has taken top spot on the ballot paper for the South Australian seat of Mayo but sitting MP Rebekha Sharkie isn’t concerned.

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High-profile Liberal candidate Georgina Downer has taken top spot on the ballot paper for the South Australian seat of Mayo but sitting MP Rebekha Sharkie isn’t concerned.

The Centre Alliance candidate will fight to retain her place in the federal parliament from the sixth and final spot on the ballot at the May 18 election. Ms Sharkie said the draw was “not at all” disappointing.

“I was below other candidates last time and the people of Mayo are smart, they look carefully at their ballot sheet,” she said.

“I’m just trying every day as hard as I possibly can to win Mayo again for our community.”

Ms Downer is the daughter of long-serving foreign minister Alexander Downer and is bidding to win back his former seat for the Liberals.

Member for Mayo Rebbeca Sharkie

Liberal candidate for Mayo Georgina Downer

She also ran in last year’s by-election in Mayo, which was called when Ms Sharkie fell foul of citizenship laws.

In that poll, Ms Sharkie increased her majority and now holds the seat with a margin of about 5 per cent.

In SA’s most marginal seat of Boothby, incumbent Liberal Nicolle Flint drew fifth spot on the ballot, but importantly one above her Labor rival Nadia Clancy.

Top spot in Boothby went to Geoff Russell from the Animal Justice Party, while controversial Queensland Senator Fraser Anning is also running a candidate — Adrian Cheok will stand for Anning’s Conservative National Party, having left Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party earlier this year.

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In the race for the SA Senate spots, The Great Australia Party was allocated the first spot on the left-hand side of the paper ahead of Senator Anning’s party.

The Liberals took the seventh spot while Labor is in 15th.

The Centre Alliance — with lead candidate Skye Kakoschke-Moore, who is trying to win back the Senate seat she was also forced to abandon over citizenship issues — took third spot, with One Nation in fifth and the Greens in 10th.

Greens lead candidate, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, is likely to bid with One Nation to retain her seat, and said the level of support for Pauline Hanson’s party was “absolutely horrifying”.

“To have One Nation get a foothold in our great state would be a disaster,” she said.

“It would be a disaster for the climate, it would be a disaster for working people.”