Hello all, and welcome to my page dedicated towards tracking the movements of South Australian politics going into the 2026 election. This page, unlike my political party tracker, is meant to generally track changes and moves made by all politicians and hopeful candidates going into the 2026 state election. I'll be updating the page as various things occur, and will be giving my thoughts as well on every change that appears. In addition, I'll provide links to news (both textual and video) regarding each event.
18/08/2025 - One Nation announces lead candidate, Carlos Quaremba
In an announcement that slipped under my radar, Pauline Hanson/One Nation has named their lead candidate for the election, State President Carlos Quaremba. Quaremba is not an entirely notable candidate, with his biggest 'claim to fame' being that he is currently a Councillor for Victor Harbour. He was their second candidate in the Federal Election, and funnily enough, his webpage hasn't been updated on the One Nation site, with it still mentioning him helping Jennifer Game (hilarious thing to leave on). In terms of policies, Quaremba has few, besides being anti-Labor and anti-net-zero.
Funnier than all this is that Hanson used the news article announcing Quaremba's candidature to lay into Sarah Game. Literally, she spent more time attacking her old MLC over uplifting her new candidate. Hanson described Game as lazy, untrustworthy, and stated that Game "didn't campaign one day". Game, for her part, called Hanson a liar and essentially two-faced. So, obviously, no love lost there. But it is really funny that Quaremba gets lost in an article that is meant to be about him.
News Articles:
The Advertiser | Pauline Hanson lashes Sarah Game as “lazy” as Victor Harbor councillor announced as lead One Nation candidate for state election
18/08/2025 - Handshakegate continues
The event I am now dubbing Handshakegate has continued to make headlines today in SA. To sum up this mundane issue blown large, yesterday, when Frank Pangallo announced he was joining the Liberal Party, it seemed that he shunned SA Liberal's leader, Vincent Tarzia's, attempt to shake hands thrice over. As I mentioned yesterday, it was already well-known that Frank didn't hold much respect for Tarzia (and the Liberal Party as a whole), so this blunder has become a headline grabber. Labor and 7 News both have grabbed onto it with two hands, in any case.
In my opinion, its not that big of a deal, besides cementing what we already knew about Pangallo and Tarzia's relationship. It does leave room for speculation about Pangallo's true motives in the Liberal Party. Myself, and a few others I've talked to, are somewhat confident that Pangallo has entered the party with the objective of winning Waite while the rest of the Liberals flounder, and than oust Tarzia and rule over the ashes. Him and the Liberal Right faction are aligned, so it seems possible, although it does require Pangallo to win Waite which seems highly unlikely at this very moment.
News Clips:
7 News
17/08/2025 - Frank Pangallo joins the SA Liberal Party
Frank Pangallo, former news journalist and SA-Best/Independent MLC, has officially joined the Liberal Party and will be running in the seat of Waite at the next election. In his eyes, it's a natural way of working for the community which (and this isn't false) he's lived in for a decent while. On the other hand, Labor claims it is simply a way for Pangallo to try and keep his place in parliament. Either way, he has a 4% margin to overcome, which may not seem like alot until you consider Labor is currently polling better in the state than its results in the 2022 election.
Now, in my opinion, this is not going to be a successful move. Frank has some 'name brand' value in the state and is a dogged campaigner, certainly, but his style, personality, and politics just aren't what's needed to beat Labor and Catherine Hutchesson (the seat's MHA). Furthermore, Frank doesn't seem to respect Tarzia (not hard to think why) and is a very stubborn man, so it's very possible we see trouble in 'paradise' very soon. At the very least, it's not hard to think of a scenario where the SA Liberals look towards a certain policy or promise closer to the election that Frank disagrees with, and that causes a public spat. In addition to all this, I also think this is just a very poor use of a candidate like Frank. He isn't the best candidate for sure, but his name brand and style of campaigning is something you'd want working to boost your vote statewide, not just in one seat. This is sort of like if, when Fiona Patten joined Legalise Cannabis, she instead was put down as a candidate for a lower house seat, rather than the Senate. It's just a misuse of a candidate, that, to be fair, is quite representative of the SA Liberal's political intelligence these days.
News Articles:
News Clips:
7 News
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