ONE Nation last ran a Chaffey candidate in 2002, about six years after Pauline Hanson made her famous/infamous maiden speech to federal parliament.
That drought was broken this week when Adelaide-based businessman Sab Feleppa became the fourth state election candidate for Chaffey.
Flanked by former Liberal staffer and ex-Riverlander Richard Henderson, Mr Feleppa travelled to the region to launch his campaign and speak about himself, his motivations and his policies.
He knows he cannot win, but for the next seven weeks he will attempt to draw attention to the issues he believes in, like his fellow candidates. Despite having zero chance of claiming Chaffey, his candidacy alone is an interesting development.
One Nation is running 18 lower house candidates at the March 19 SA election, plus three in the upper house for good measure. Its hopes of getting anyone up are slim to none, but the weight of numbers point to a party hoping to capitalise on the likely splintering of the conservative vote at the federal election, which political insiders believe will be held on May 21, just two months after the SA election.
Pauline Hanson visited the Riverland in 2019 and the party had planned to send high-profile One Nation NSW State Leader – and former leader of the federal opposition – Mark Latham to SA last year, until Covid-19 restrictions intervened.
For as long as the party exists, its stronghold will always be Queensland, but its SA push this time around signals a re-commitment to having an influence in our state, and possibly to lay the groundwork for its federal election campaign.