The Australian Greens SA
Convenor	Nikki Mortier
Founded	1995
Headquarters	PO BOX 10483 (239 Wright St) ADELAIDE BC SA 5000
Ideology	Green politics, Social progressivism
International affiliation	Global Greens Asia-Pacific Green Network
Website
Greens SA
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

Greens South Australia is a Green Party located in South Australia, a member of the federation of the Australian Greens party.

Contents 1 Electoral history 1.1 2002 Labor defection 1.2 2006 state election 1.3 2007 federal election 1.4 2008 Mayo federal by-election 1.5 2010 state election 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Electoral history

Prior to 1995, a very small local Green party not connected to the emerging Australian Greens contested a number of State and Federal elections. This party was more or less non-functioning by the time Mark Parnell (current Greens State MLC) called the first meetings to establish a new Green Party in 1995. It took a number of attempts to get the new party off the ground, however a visit to Adelaide by Bob Brown in late 1995 provided the necessary impetus to register the new party.

The Australian Greens (SA) first ran and contested every seat at the 1996 federal election, followed by the 1997 state election. In both elections they scored around 1.7 percent of the vote.

Since that time, the SA Greens have steadily built up a support base at state and federal elections, partly due to the demise of the Democrats. The SA Greens now have one MLC and one Senator, and have continued to improve polling, both currently at or above 10 percent.

[edit] 2002 Labor defection

Kris Hanna, the member for Mitchell, was elected as an ALP member in March 2002, but changed to The Greens in January 2003. Hanna left the party in February 2006, citing constituents' wishes for him not to be bound to any party.^[1]

[edit] 2006 state election

At the 2006 state election, Environmental lawyer Mark Parnell became the first Green candidate to be elected in South Australia, securing a position in the Legislative Council on a primary vote of 4.3 percent. A vote of 6.5 percent was achieved in the House of Assembly.

The best lower house result was in the electoral district of Heysen, on a primary vote of 17.7 percent. Heysen was also the Democrats closest lower house win, coming as close as 1.9 percent at the 1997 state election on a primary vote of 29.2 percent, finishing at 48.1 percent after preferences.

[edit] 2007 federal election

Second on the 2006 state ticket, Sarah Hanson-Young was first on the ticket at the 2007 federal election, and became South Australia's first Greens Senator. She won the sixth and final South Australian Senate position with a primary vote of 6.5 percent. The strongest Green votes in the Senate came from Adelaide, Boothby and Mayo.^[2]

[edit] 2008 Mayo federal by-election

Sparked by the resignation of Liberal Party MP Alexander Downer, a Mayo by-election was held in 2008. Labor chose not to contest the by-election. Greens candidate Lynton Vonow finished second, on a primary vote of 21.35 percent amongst a field of 11 candidates, a swing of 10.39 percent, and finished on a final vote of 46.97 percent after the distribution of preferences, falling narrowly short of taking the seat from the Liberals.

[edit] 2010 state election

Since the 2006 election, Green polling in state political opinion polls has gone from 4 percent to above 10 percent leading up to the 2010 election.^[3] The Greens are fielding three upper house candidates, with Tammy Jennings leading the ticket.^[4] Current MLC Mark Parnell's term expires in 2014.

[edit] See also

• 2008 Parnell–Bressington filibuster

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Greens South Australia
• The Hon Mark Parnell MLC

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