South Australia election result: Liberals, Marshall win power from Labor, Jay Weatherill to step down
Ousted South Australian Labor leader to step down as Premier-elect Steven Marshall vows no special treatment. | RESULTS
Incoming South Australian Premier Steven Marshall has turned out this morning at a popular beachside town square for coffee with several of his new Liberal MPs after last night claiming a decisive victory over Labor and Nick Xenophon’s SA-Best party.
A buoyant Mr Marshall said he would focus the Liberal partyroom on implementing his mandate after ending 16 years of Labor government in South Australia.
He said today would be taken up with briefings from the public service and promised to soon announce his first ministry, with a small number of “tweaks” to the opposition frontbench line-up he had led since becoming leader in 2013.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS: Full seat counts, results
Mr Marshall said there would be no special treatment for Vincent Tarzia, hailed as a Liberal hero last night after defeating Mr Xenophon’s personal challenge to take his marginal seat of Hartley.
“I just really want to emphasise there is no one person or group of two or thee people, I’m extraordinarily grateful to every person in the team,” he said.
.@marshall_steven: 'I would like to thank @JayWeatherill for his call, to his service to this state as premier for six years.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 17, 2018
'It is a tough job but I am really looking forward to it.'
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SA-Best failed to live up to expectations and looks set to win no lower house seats, despite fielding 36 candidates in the 47-seat House of Assembly. The party looks likely to win two upper house spots.
“Today we get internal briefings and then we’ll get on with implementing the reform agenda we need so desperately in South Australia,” Mr Marshall said.
He joked he needed coffee after “big” celebrations last night.
“I was up partying a little bit too late last night,” he said.
Malcolm Turnbull spoke with Mr Marshall this morning.
The Prime Minister said the Liberal Party’s win in South Australia was an endorsement of the federal government’s energy policy.
“Jay Weatherill said this was a referendum on energy policy,” Mr Turnbull said in Sydney.
“The people have spoken and spoken in favour of our policies which is to support affordable and reliable energy to ensure that we can meet our Paris commitment, and at the same time ensure that we can keep the lights on and indeed afford to keep the lights on.”
South Australia’s peak business group welcomed the certainty of majority government.
Business SA chief executive Nigel McBride hoped both the new Marshall Liberal government and the Labor opposition could work in a bipartisan way to grow the state’s economy.
“We can build an environment in which all business and employers of any size can thrive and create the positive future which all South Australians deserve,” Mr McBride said today.
JAY WEATHERILL TO STAND DOWN
Ousted South Australian premier Jay Weatherill says he’ll stand down as Labor leader and ruled out a switch to federal politics after losing Saturday’s state election.
“The Labor party has plenty of fantastic choices as leader; I won’t be one of them,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Mr Weatherill would not put a timeline on the leadership change, but said it would be “sooner rather than later” once the final results of the election are known.
. @JayWeatherill: I will not be staying on as leader. The Labor has fantastic choices for a new leader.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 18, 2018
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But he said he would remain in the state parliament on the back bench and had no desire to move to Canberra.
“Absolutely not. I can say that with great passion. I have zero ambitions to go into federal parliament.” He said he wanted to focus on representing his seat of Cheltenham, saying the electorate deserved his full attention.
“I’m in an unusual situation where I’m doing it back to front,” he said, noting he was appointed to the front bench early in his parliamentary career. Mr Weatherill said he now wanted to spend more time with his family. “My immediate future is going to see mum in the nursing home and have a cup of coffee with dad.” South Australia on Saturday voted to bring an end to Labor’s 16 year reign in the state, dashing Mr Weatherill’s hopes of leading the party to a record fifth term.
Labor is likely to win 18 seats - a respectable result after their lengthy reign.
‘AN ABSOLUTE LIE’
Nick Xenophon has ruled out a return to federal politics, saying he will take a break from public life after a disappointing result in the election.
“I’m not interested in running in the next federal election,” he told reporters in Adelaide.
“It’s been 20 years of not really having any breaks. My plan is to get eight hours’ sleep, that’s my plan.
“I’ll still be around. I’ll still be an agitator on issues.”
Mr Xenophon’s attempt to disrupt state politics and hold the balance of power in the state parliament fell well short, with none of the SA-BEST candidates likely to win a seat in the lower house.
They are likely to have two members in the upper house.
At a press conference this morning, he denied doing a deal with Jay Weatherill.
“That’s an absolute lie.”
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