Will the federal election results be replicated at next year's SA contest?
He apologised for being the man in the seat when it slipped from his party's hands for the first time in more than five decades.
As he descended from the stage, there to comfort the now-former MP were party faithful and elders, chief among them the recently-retired Senator Simon Birmingham.
Speaking to the media later, Mr Birmingham did not sugar-coat the result.
He said it was "diabolical" and he was "gutted" to see "so much good talent, particularly fresher, younger, newer faces" lose their seats.
If this wasn't rock bottom, he posited, it won't be too long before there is not much of a party.
With the loss of Sturt, the Liberals had lost their last metropolitan stronghold in Adelaide.
And with the Electoral Commission currently carrying out a three-candidate-preferred count in the seat of Grey, there are also concerns about one of the party's last two regional strongholds.
Live results: Find out what's happening in your seat as counting continues
A stark contrast to the Howard heyday where the party held Adelaide, Boothby, Hindmarsh, Kingston, Makin, Sturt, Wakefield (now Spence) and the peri-urban seat of Mayo.
Now, all gone.
A sign that John Howard knew how to tap into the outer-suburban "battler" vote in a way the current Liberal Party simply does not.
That era also saw the SA Liberals with scores of senior voices at the cabinet table — from Alexander Downer to Robert Hill and Nick Minchin — and rising stars like Christopher Pyne and Amanda Vanstone.
The party was in government at a state level too, making it unquestionably the dominant force in South Australian politics of the time.
How times change.
As bad as Saturday's result looks on the face of it, when you dive into the details it starts to look even worse.
In almost every one of the more than 400 polling places across Adelaide's eight electorates, voters favoured Labor on a two-party preferred count.
On polling day just a small handful of booths favoured the Liberals in higher numbers.
A kind way to look at those results would be to consider that pre-polls and postals generally favour the Liberal Party.
But any way you cut it, it's a devastating result — voters in almost every part of the city rejected the Liberals, often in emphatic numbers.
Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 federal election coverage
Catch the latest interviews and in-depth coverage on ABC iview and ABC Listen
Both state Labor and Liberal leaders have been quick to distance their contest from the federal one.
At a press conference the day after Labor's victory, Premier Peter Malinauskas said he wasn't "sitting around counting numbers, thinking about seats".
"I think that would be self-serving," Mr Malinauskas said.
"Any sort of analysis for what this means for the state election would be foolhardy from my perspective. We've just got to get on with doing the job."
While Mr Malinauskas doesn't want to seem arrogant or over-confident, Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia also has strong reasons to distance himself from the result.
"The federal election has been fought on federal issues and I think people can distinguish between federal issues and state issues," he said.
"All I can say is we're just working hard every day now to make sure that we hold the Labor government to account, but also make sure we continue to put our alternative vision forward for the people of South Australia."
Mr Tarzia has enough to contend with, without looking at what's just happened to his federal colleagues.
He's a relatively-new leader, still defining to the public who he is and what his team stands for, up against a very popular, first-term government.
And there's even more he needs to overcome — the local Liberal Party's woes have been oft repeated.
They lost six seats in the 2022 state election, went on to lose two by-elections — one in Dunstan when former Premier Steven Marshall retired, another in Black following the resignation of former opposition leader David Speirs.
They lost MacKillop when Nick McBride turned independent.
The party has also been tarnished by criminal allegations — Mr Speirs has pleaded guilty to drugs charges, and Mr McBride has this week faced court over assault charges after being charged with three counts of assaulting his wife in April.
Before the 2022 election the brand also took a major hit — and lost other seats — when Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell was charged with fraud, and Narrunga MP Fraser Ellis was charged with deception — both have been found guilty but are waiting on appeals.
They both still sit in parliament as independents.
The Liberals also lost Kavel in the Adelaide Hills when Dan Cregan defected, making a deal with Labor to become Speaker.
With all that recent history, Peter Dutton's disastrous campaign is something the local team could have done without.
Party insiders are now questioning not how many seats Vincent Tarzia can win, but how many he might lose.
The good news is, with all the regional seats lost to defections and scandals, there could be a chance to gain some of those back.
But Saturday's result will have done little to energise the local membership — not a good start when you need to be developing an election campaign and pre-selecting candidates.
For Tarzia and his team, their hope will echo Simon Birmingham, that the federal election was rock bottom, and the only way from here is up.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

ABC News
a minute ago
- ABC News
Russian couple accused of money laundering scheme to face Qld Supreme Court
A Russian couple accused of masterminding a multimillion-dollar money laundering operation have been committed to stand trial in the Queensland Supreme Court. Alexandra Bugrova, 47, and Dmitry Rimskiy, 50, who moved to Australia in 2015, have been charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime worth $1,000,000. An Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation was launched after a tip-off from Austrac that the Gold Coast pair had deposited more than $4 million into ATMs across 576 transactions, which were structured to avoid the financial crime watchdog's $10,000 reporting threshold. Police allege the cash was laundered at banks and ATMs in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia between July 2022 and September 2023. The funds were allegedly used to purchase or rapidly repay mortgages for waterfront mansions in Hope Island, Broadbeach Waters and Runaway Bay, houses in Labrador, Alexandra Hills and Mount Gravatt, and a high-rise unit at Milton. The AFP seized $15.6 million in assets, including seven properties in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, $514,000 worth of cryptocurrency and more than $1.95 million in cash found in a suitcase during a raid on the couple's Hope Island home in December 2023. While defence barrister Angus Edwards KC acknowledged the transactions were deliberately designed to evade detection, he said the charges should be thrown out because there was no evidence the money was the proceeds of crime. Mr Edwards told a committal hearing at the Southport Magistrates Court the couple were wealthy business owners who were trying to move their money out of Russia and were afraid of political persecution from the Putin administration. "We certainly accept that we have engaged in conduct designed to hide the money being deposited," Mr Edwards said. "Russia is not a democracy. [The government] is engaged in a war in Ukraine and it is well-known they are prone to seizing assets. "They were afraid of sticking their heads up above the parapet and having their assets and their businesses stripped from them in Russia." Crown prosecutor Dylan Kerr conceded the Commonwealth's case was circumstantial but told the court the "irresistible inference" was the money was the proceeds of crime. "It is not uncommon in a money laundering case that authorities do not know where the money came from," he said. "If it is the case that all this money came from Russia, why was it deposited in Australian dollars and not in rubles?" Magistrate Kerry Magee said the cash deposited "exceeded their reported earnings by a significant amount". "In essence, the defendants are asking me to find that … the defendants' conduct was for the purposes of avoiding seizure of their assets by Russian authorities," Ms Magee said. "I have no means of assessing the reasonableness or otherwise of that hypothesis. "I am of the opinion that the evidence is sufficient to put you on trial." The couple do not speak English and a Russian translator had to be used for the arraignment. They did not enter a plea and were released on bail. The maximum penalty for the charges is 25 years in jail. The pair will face Brisbane Supreme Court at a date yet to be set.

ABC News
31 minutes ago
- ABC News
US Air Force hosts biggest ever exercise in Pacific territory Guam, with experts saying China the focus
The US Air Force says it is preparing to "fight and win" the "battle of tomorrow" as the US Pacific territory of Guam plays host to the biggest combat exercise the region has ever seen. In a move experts say is undoubtedly "directed at China", the US Air Force's Resolute Force Pacific (REFORPAC) exercise sees more than 400 aircraft and 12,000 personnel from the US and allies such as Australia, converge on the small US island territory, about 3,000 kilometres north of Darwin. Coinciding with the Talisman Sabre exercises in Australia, the US Air Force says REFORPAC is designed to test how quickly the US and its allies can "mobilise air power across vast distances, under pressure, in a contested environment". On the ground at Guam's Andersen Air Force Base, hundreds of jet fighters and support aircraft have been flying in and out over the past two weeks, conducting various drills. Speaking at the base, Colonel Charles Dan Cooley told the ABC it was an exercise that had never been done "on this scope and scale". "That exercise, for us, is just an opportunity to practice." However, some, including the US Air Force's own social media accounts, suggest there is a far more targeted motive. This week, the US Air Force promoted a social media post that said the exercise proved how it would "fight and win in tomorrow's battlespace (sic)". Although the enemy or conflict was not specified, experts say it is directed at one country. "There's been very little disguising the fact that this exercise is directed at China," Leland Bettis, the director of Guam-based think tank Pacific Centre for Island Security, told the ABC. The exercises in the Pacific come on the back of US Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby's comments last week, calling on allies, such as Australia, to make clear if they would commit troops to a conflict with China over Taiwan. Guam has been identified by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the country's most important strategic base in the region. Mr Bettis said REFORPAC reflected the reality that Guam could be vulnerable in a conflict, so the US was practising how to quickly disperse its forces. "There are significant aviation assets in [nearby US territories] Tinian and in Saipan," he said. "I think what US contingency planners anticipate in the event involving conflict with an adversary in the region is that they would use a distributed and dispersed plan, which would be able to move assets around, anticipating that some assets are not going to be available, and some bases are not going to be available. "So the fact that you have significant assets in Saipan and in Tinian also signalled that they expect that Guam assets will not be available in conflict." Back on the ground at the Andersen Air Force Base, this was backed up by Colonel Matt Johnston, commander from the Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, who is in Guam for exercises. "Our ability to take off in our fighters, which don't carry a lot of gas, go get fuel, accomplish our objectives, probably go back and get some more fuel so that we can come back and land. "So, we're learning a lot of lessons through that." The military build-up comes as the Trump administration continues to realign the US's priorities in the Pacific region, most notably through its multi-billion-dollar cuts to USAID. Mr Bettis said the absence of "soft power", such as USAID-led diplomacy in the region, would pave the way for development supporting a military purpose, instead of direct assistance to nations. "The face of America in our part of the world wears a uniform, and I think you're going to probably see that more and more throughout the region."

ABC News
31 minutes ago
- ABC News
South Perth council votes to remove trees on public land after complaints about obstructed views
The City of South Perth will rip up six small trees planted last year on the Swan River foreshore parkland, after complaints they would eventually block residents' "million-dollar views" of the city skyline. The council planted the saplings in Sir James Mitchell Park last winter, but on Tuesday night voted in favour of removing the trees on behalf of residents whose homes face the park and the city skyline beyond. Speaking at the meeting, Cr Nic Coveney said residents on Jubilee Street were simply seeking to protect the value of their homes. "What these residents are asking for is consistency to maintain a similar vista as to when they purchased their property," Mr Coveney said. "They are not seeking to remove mature trees. They are seeking to move juvenile trees before they become mature and which they say were planted without any consultation. "Whilst some may disagree, I don't think it's unreasonable to buy a house or an apartment on the foreshore with a significant view and have an expectation of maintaining that view. "To do otherwise would deny the very real and direct effect of views on property values and amenities." In the council agenda documents, the council staff said views were taken into consideration when the trees were planted and were positioned in alignment with the dividing property boundaries, not directly in front of properties. It also said the species chosen would also help mitigate waterlogging, a problem that appears in the park for extended periods during winter. Most of the young trees were expected to grow to heights of four to 10 metres, and one of the trees, a corymbia calophylla, could eventually grow to 15 — 30 metres tall. Mayor Greg Milner was one of three council members to vote against the motion, telling the meeting many residents had voiced support for keeping the trees. "Cr Coveney tells us that he's been contacted by over a dozen residents on Jubilee Street who are concerned about losing their million-dollar views of the Perth CBD skyline," Mr Milner said. "But I do note that we've all received correspondence from many, many, many other residents. Bronwyn David, co-convenor of the South Perth Tree Canopy Advocates group, slammed the council's decision. "People might think, well, it's just six trees. What does six trees matter?" Ms David said. "But it's the precedent. We are preferencing the views of a very small number of people over the whole of our community, which frankly needs more tree cover to survive. Ms David was also critical of the waste of resources involved in the decision. "It may be that we have just thrown away a lot of money in the City of South Perth, both in putting these trees in the ground to begin with, and then the labour and effort to remove them, find somewhere else and put them in the ground a second time, only to have them die." The City of South Perth declined a request for comment.