SA First was a

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 ...

n political party formed in 1999 by dissident

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 la ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Terry Cameron. The party contested the 2002 state election but failed to elect any candidates to 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 ...

Ideology and policy

SA First positioned itself as a pragmatic, centre-based political party which relied on policy initiatives drawn from the experience of its members and professionals. Its flagship was parliamentary reform, which advocated

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-r ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, more sitting days and fewer political perks. It also formed a broad range of policy initiatives which were more or less moderate and

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

in their scope.

Structure

The structure of SA First consisted of local branches electing a governing State Conference, which in turn elected an administrative State Executive. The Party was notable for allowing each MP a conscience vote on each piece of legislation before Parliament. The annual State Conference consisted of delegates elected by the branches and was the governing body of the party, with the power to determine policy, preselect Upper House candidates and elect the State Executive. The State Executive was an 11-member body elected largely by the Conference. There were positions of president, vice-president and state secretary, elected by a preferential majority of conference for a two-year term. It followed the Labor Party model of political power lying in the hands of the secretary rather than the president; the president directed debate and the state secretary directed the everyday operations of the party. There were six general members elected by

for a one-year term. The positions of Youth Representative and Parliamentary Leader were ''ex officio''. The state was divided up into branches, based around one to nine electorates. Each branch was allocated delegates to State Conference based on one delegate per 10 members (with a cap of 7 delegates to help prevent branch stacking or undue influence by one branch). Branches had an equal say in the preselection of candidates, with a 50% weighting of the vote with State Conference. (cf. Australian Labor Party where the branches have only a 25% weighting, and the Liberal Party where the SEC/FEC preselection college has a 100% weighting). Youth Members (25 and under), in addition to being members of their local branch, were also automatically members of SA First Youth, which elected delegates to Conference based on its membership and elected a member of the State Executive directly. This 'double representation' helped youth membership and participation within the wider party immensely, with almost 1/3 of delegates from the youth wing of the party as well as 1/3 of the State Executive members. There were also standing committees such as the Policy Committee, which drafted policy under the direction of a Policy Convener appointed by State Conference.

Party members

At its height SA First had over 500 members which placed it as the third largest party in South Australia, behind the

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 ...

, the Australian Labor Party and on equal par with the

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. It attracted members from both sides of the political divide who were looking for a new, moderate political party in which to participate, as well as people who had no prior political experience.

Parliamentary involvement

Together with fellow Labor-Turned-Independent MP Trevor Crothers, SA First shared the balance of power 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 South Australian House of Assembly, ...

and made it easier for the Liberal Government to pass legislation; previously they had to convince either the

or the Labor Party to pass legislation. SA First MP Terry Cameron was renowned for asking numerous questions in parliament and for making extensive speeches, the longest clocking in at over three hours.

2002 election

SA First ran 30 candidates 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 gove ...

and 2 in the Legislative Council at the 2002 election. They received between 0.6% and 7.5% of the primary vote in the various Lower House seats and 1% of the vote in the Legislative Council. Their average vote where they fielded a candidate was 2.8%. They failed to win a seat, however post-electoral analysis indicated the party missed out by only 2,000 votes.

Post-electoral history

On 31 December 2002, SA First was deregistered as a political party. Terry Cameron continued to sit as an Independent in the Legislative Council. Up for re-election, he was unsuccessful at the 2006 state election. His preferences were directed towards minor parties in the first instance, and then towards the Liberals ahead of Labor. Many members went on to join other political parties, primarily the

. {{Defunct Australian political parties Defunct political parties in South Australia Political parties established in 1999 Political parties disestablished in 2002 1999 establishments in Australia 2002 disestablishments in Australia