The member for Barker, Tony Pasin, is one of the few SA Liberals to have a seat in Canberra following last Saturday’s federal election.

Mr Pasin campaigned throughout his 65,206sq km electorate by personally attending numerous local events and gatherings as well as via local newspapers and social media.

The only other SA coalition member in Canberra’s House of Representatives is Liberal Tom Venning, representing the seat of Grey which is 908,595sq km.

At the time of press, the Liberals appeared to be losing one of their three senators up for election.

SA elects six senators every three years. The Liberals have usually secured three positions, Labor two and Greens one.

But at the time of press, a 21-year-old Labor woman, Charlotte Walker from the factional Left, seemed likely to become a third senator for the Labor Party.

Naracoorte’s Monique Crossling was unable to get close to gaining a Senate seat for the National Party.

Right up to election day, a steady flow of daily news from Mr Pasin, his dedicated staff and family as well as 400 or so volunteers, continuously highlighted his priorities, possible solutions for local issues and coalition policies.

With 99.51 per cent of the vote counted at the time of press, Mr Pasin had 44,626 first preference votes – 48,63 per cent, a reduction of 4.61 per cent on his 2022 results.

Mr Pasin’s nearest rival was Labor’s James Rothe with 20,675 first preference votes, or 22.34 per cent which was a 1.49 per cent increase on his party’s 2022 performance.

Trailing them were the Greens with Major “Moogy” Sumner snaring 7559 votes or 8.1 per cent, and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidate Jennifer Troeth, who secured 7476 votes – 8.08 per cent.

Trumpet of Patriots candidate Robert Jameson gained 2492 votes; Independent Cody Scholes got 2644 and Family First Michael Brohier 2432.

Independent Ian Penno attracted 1308 votes, Rosa Hillam gained 1595 and National Party candidate Jonathan Pietzsch 1371.

Instead of 52 other coalition colleagues in the House of Representatives, estimates at the time of press suggested there would be just 36 on Mr Pasin’s side of the chamber.

With 70 per cent of the vote counted for the 151 seats in the Lower House, projections suggested 85 seats for Labor, 36 for Liberal and 10 “others”.

Mr Pasin is likely to be included in the coalition’s next leadership team and, before the election, was the shadow Roads and Roads Safety minister.

This article appeared in The Naracoorte News, 7 May 2025.