Australian Greens SA is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

political party located in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It is a member of the federation of the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

party. The party has four members in the federal and state parliaments:

Sarah Hanson-Young Sarah Coral Hanson-Young (née Hanson; born 23 December 1981) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since July 2008, representing the Australian Greens. She is a graduate of the WEF young global leaders program. ...

and

Barbara Pocock Barbara Ann Pocock AM (born 22 March 1955) is an Australian politician who was elected at the 2022 Australian federal election to become a Senator representing South Australia from July 2022. She was officially declared elected by the Australia ...

in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

; and

Tammy Franks Tammy Anne Franks (formerly Jennings; born July 1968) is an Australian politician who was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council for the SA Greens at the 2010 state election. Early life Born in Dubbo and raised largely in seaside ...

and Robert Simms in the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly. It sits in Parli ...

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 Mark Charles Parnell (born 9 September 1959) is an Australian former politician and parliamentary leader of the SA Greens in the South Australian Legislative Council. He was the first SA Greens representative to be elected to the Parliament of ...

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 Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasman ...

in late 1995 provided the necessary impetus to register the new party. The Australian Greens (SA) first ran in the 1996 federal election and the 1997 state election. In both elections they received around two percent of the statewide upper house vote. Since that time, the Greens SA have steadily built up a support base at state and federal elections, partly due to the demise of the Democrats. The Greens SA now have two MLCs and two senators, with polling since the 2013 federal and 2014 state elections by

Newspoll Newspoll is an Australian opinion polling brand, published by ''The Australian'' and administered by international market research and data analytics group, YouGov. Newspoll has a long tradition of predicting Australian Federal Election resul ...

showing the Green vote consistently above 10 percent.

2002 Labor defection

Kris Hanna Kris Hanna (born 1962) is the Mayor of Marion in South Australia. He was the member for Mitchell in the House of Assembly from 1997 until 2010. Originally elected as a member of the Labor Party, Hanna joined the SA Greens in 2003 before becomi ...

, the member for

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

, was elected as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member in 1997, but changed to The Greens in 2003. Hanna left the party in February 2006, citing constituents' wishes for him not to be bound to any party.

2006 state election

At the 2006 state election, Environmental lawyer

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 House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

, an increase of 4.1%. The best lower house result was in the

electoral district of Heysen Heysen is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after Sir Hans Heysen, a prominent South Australian landscape artist. It is a 1,074 km² electoral district that takes in some of the oute ...

, 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.

2007 federal election

Fourth on the 2006 state ticket,

was first on the ticket at the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

, and became South Australia's first Greens

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. 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 Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Boothby and

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

2008 Mayo federal by-election

Sparked by the resignation of

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...

, 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.

2010 state election

Prior to the 2010 state election, the Greens had gone from four to ten percent and above in state Newspolls. In the lower house, the vote increased to 8.1 percent, with the upper house vote to 6.6 percent which elected Tammy Jennings (now

2010 federal election

At the 2010 federal election, polls showed a similar substantial increase. The Greens SA received a swing of 6.8 percent in South Australia for the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

, to finish with 13.3 percent of the statewide vote.

Penny Wright Penelope Lesley Wright (born 19 January 1961) is an Australian activist and former politician who is South Australia's Guardian for Children and Young People in Care. Formerly a lawyer, lecturer, mediator, and Tribunal Member, she was also ...

was subsequently elected, joining Hanson-Young and 7 other Green Senators from July 2011.

2013 federal election

Hanson-Young was re-elected at the 2013 federal election with a statewide primary vote of 7.1 percent. The Greens polled strongest in the seat of

with over 14 percent of the primary vote.

2014 state election

Parnell was re-elected at the 2014 election with the upper house statewide primary vote at 6.5 percent. The lower house statewide primary vote was 8.7 percent. Lynton Vonow contested the seat of Heysen for the Greens and came second after preferences with a 39 percent two-candidate preferred vote from a 19.7 percent primary vote. The Greens have consistently polled strongest in Heysen but with preferences overtook the Labor candidate. The Greens also polled well in seats such as Kavel and

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

with primary votes over 15 percent.

2015 Senate casual vacancy

Penny Wright resigned from the

due to family reasons in September 2015. Later that month, Robert Simms was appointed to the

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...

by a

joint sitting A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose. Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicame ...

of the

Parliament of South Australia The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly ( lower house) and the 22-seat Legislative Council (upper house). General elections are ...

2016 federal election

When

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Turnbull Turnbull may refer to: People *See Turnbull (surname) *Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister of Australia Places *Turnbull High School in Bishopbriggs, Scotland *Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, located near Spokane, Washington, USA *Turnbull ...

announced in March 2016 that a

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution ...

would be taking place in May and an election in July, the party was forced for the first time to choose between their two senators, and preselected Sarah Hanson-Young to the number 1 preference on the Senate ballot, with Robert Simms at number 2. Only Hanson-Young was reelected, being assigned a 3-year term.

2018 state election

Tammy Franks was re-elected to the Legislative Council with a statewide vote of 5.87% in the upper house.

2019 federal election

Sarah Hanson-Young was re-elected to the Senate with a statewide upper-house swing of +5.03% and a total vote of 10.9% despite a modest swing of +3.4% in the lower house. The party polled strongest in the seat of Adelaide, where Barbara Pocock received 15.7% of first preference votes.

2019 Cheltenham and Enfield by-elections

Steffi Medrow received 14.6% of first preferences with a swing of +8.3% in the 2019 Cheltenham state by-election. Sebastian Konyn received 8.3% of first preferences in the

2019 Enfield state by-election Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, a result unchanged from

Cassie Alvey Cassie is a feminine given name and a short form of various other given names mostly used in English-speaking countries. It is more rarely a surname. People and fictional characters named Cassie include: People with the name Given name or nickna ...

's result in the 2018 election

2021 casual Legislative Council vacancy

Robert Simms was preselected to contest the

2022 South Australian state election The 2022 South Australian state election was held on 19 March 2022 to elect members to the 55th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly (the lower house, whose members were elected at the 2018 election), and half th ...

, but when Mark Parnell resigned from Parliament on 9th April, Simms was appointed to the state upper house on 4 May 2021. Tammy Franks became the parliamentary leader of the party.

2022 state election

Simms was re-elected to the state's upper house with a statewide Legislate Council vote of 9% and a swing of +3.2%. Sean Cullen-MacAskill received 14.5% of first preference votes in the seat of Adelaide.

2022 federal election

With Hanson-Young not requiring re-election in the middle of her six-year term, the party sought to double its upper-house representation. With a Senate swing of +0.99% and a total vote of 11.9%,

Prof Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Barbara Pocock AM was elected as SA's newest senator. The party polled strongest in the seat of Adelaide, where Rebecca Galdies received 20.1% of first preference votes.

2022 Bragg by-election

To fill the seat vacated by

Vickie Chapman Vickie Ann Chapman is a former Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia between the 2002 election and May 2022. Chapman served ...

, the party preselected Jim Bastiras as the candidate for the Bragg by-election.

State election results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Federal election results

Structure

State Council

The party's State Council meets once a quarter to deal with the party's administrative matters. The party also has a Policy and Campaigning Council, which includes representatives from branches and member action groups and meets every two months to shape the party's strategic priorities

Branches

Branches are where new members first meet other Greens, talk politics and policy, get involved in local campaigning and fundraising, and find out about what else is going on.

Member action groups

A variety of member action groups have been established by the State Council, which are directly accessible to all Greens members. Working groups perform an advisory function by developing policy, conducting issues-based campaigns, or by performing other tasks assigned by the State Council. These groups include: * Indigenous Issues * Animal welfare * Greenhouse, energy and nuclear * Queer Greens * Young Greens

Members of Parliament

Federal Parliament

File:Sarah Hanson-Young.png,

, Greens SA

elected in 2007. File:Barbara_Pocock_(cropped).jpg,

, Greens SA

elected in 2022.

Former federal members

(2011–2015) * Robert Simms (2015–2016)

State Parliament

Robert Simms.jpg, Robert Simms, Greens SA MLC appointed in 2021 to replace

. File:Tammy_franks_crop.jpg,

, Greens SA MLC elected in 2010.

Former state members

(2003–2006), elected in 1997 for the Labor Party, defected to the Greens in 2003 and sat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

until 2010. *

(2006–2021), Greens SA MLC elected in 2006.

References

{{Australian Greens

Political parties in South Australia