The Labor party was propelled to election victory in South Australia on the weekend by women, with all confirmed seats gained by the party in the lower house won by female candidates.
Lucy Hood, Rhiannon Pearce, Erin Thompson, Nadia Clancy and Olivia Savvas are the women confirmed to become Labor MPs having won seats from the Liberal Party. Sarah Andrews in the Gibson electorate is also likely to win the seat from outgoing Transport Minister Corey Wingard.
Lucy Hood won the Adelaide electorate, Rhiannon Pearce won King, Erin Thompson won Davenport, Nadia Clancy won Elder, Olivia Savvas won Newland.
In the Liberal Party, two women, Ashton Hurn and Penny Pratt, will enter parliament after winning the safe seats of Schubert and Frome, replacing two male Liberal MPs.
The Labor election win has seen the end of the current Liberal government, who came into power in 2018. Before that Labor had held government in South Australia for 16 years.
New Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas said his party is “what modern Labor looks like”.
‘I stand here today as the leader of modern Labor Party that reflects our society, a very high proportion of female members of parliament,” Malinauskas said.
“There is a substantial task before us – and there isn’t a moment to lose. And with these new Labor MPs on our team, we can get this done.”
Peter Malinauskas was sworn in as South Australia’s new premier on Monday morning following the landslide election win. He will lead a majority government, with Susan Close sworn in as Deputy Premier and Stephen Mullighan as Treasurer.
Malinauskas will confirm his other cabinet appointments over the coming days.