Greens target Teague, defectors unite in state election tilt
The SA Greens have announced their 2026 state election candidates today, following a new party announcement from ex-One Nation and Liberal Party members.
Genevieve Dawson-Scott is the Greens candidate for the Adelaide Hills electorate of Heysen, a long-held Liberal seat currently belonging to deputy opposition leader Josh Teague.
Dawson-Scott is an early childhood educator living in Bridgewater and ran for the Greens in the federal seat of Mayo earlier this year.
She said with just 1000 new Greens votes in Heysen, she could secure the seat, where she will prioritise fighting for action on cost of living and climate safety.
Teague holds the seat on a post-2022-election margin of 1.9 per cent, after a previously safe Liberal 7.6 per cent.
Though the Liberal Party has held Heysen since 1985, the Greens have polled well in the electorate in the past decade and finished second after preferences in 2014.
In the inner-city seat of Dunstan, the Greens will run Norwood, Payneham & St Peters councillor Christel Mex.
The party has also preselected trade union organisers Bronte Colmer, Sam Bannon, and Dylan Kiernan for the seats of Adelaide, West Torrens, and Unley.
Colmer will face former Greens member-turned-independent candidate Keiran Snape, in a race to unseat Labor MP Lucy Hood, who won the coveted seat from the Liberals in 2022.
In the Legislative Council, Katie McCusker will take second place on the ticket, after being the Greens’ pick for both the federal seat of Sturt and state seat of Dunstan.
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She joins previously announced candidate Melanie Selwood, a former Adelaide Hills Deputy Mayor, who’s got the first spot on the ticket.
The first Legislative Council spot would have been Greens-turned-Independent Tammy Franks, though Franks said in 2024 she would not stand for re-election, and then resigned from the party to sit as an independent in May.
In Franks’ departure, she said she was “undermined”, while the Greens claimed Franks “engaged in misconduct”.
If McCusker and Selwood are successful, they’ll join legislative councillor Robert Simms who is not facing re-election in 2026 as he is halfway through his eight-year term.
Simms said Heysen was “winnable” for Dawson-Scott, and that “the contrast could not be starker” between her and Teagues.
“Heysen, in particular, is a winnable seat for the Greens and in the Upper House – we have a chance to increase our numbers too,” Simms said.
“If we replicate our federal election result next March, both Melanie and Katie will be joining me on the red leather benches in State Parliament.”
Cost-of-living relief and climate change action are front-of-mind for McCusker and Selwood, particularly in the wake of the algal bloom crisis South Australia is facing, which Simms said was a “game-changer”.
“It has reminded South Australians of the grim future that we face if we do not take action on the climate crisis,” Simms said.
Selwood said she knows “the climate crisis is here and now” and the Greens have “a bold vision for South Australia that puts people and planet first”.
Game squares off
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Also trying to bolster her ranks is legislative councillor Sarah Game, who on Wednesday announced Adelaide city councillor Henry Davis would lead the ticket in a new party.
Game, who left One Nation in May to sit as an independent, is targeting voters “disgruntled with Labor and Liberal” with her new party, called “Fair Go For Australians”.
“Realistically, if you vote Liberal at the coming election you’re just voting for somebody to have a well-paid job in opposition,” Game said.
Davis resigned from the Liberal party last week and said the Opposition has “lost its way – no vision, no urgency, no fight”.
Davis joined the Liberal Party at 16 years old, and previously cancelled his Liberal Party membership in March 2022, the day after the Marshall Government lost the 2022 state election, before re-joining to take a “more active role” with a federal preselection bid.
Game and Davis previously joined forces in February, when Game proposed to amend a section of the Local Government Act, which she said would stop councillors like Davis from being silenced in councils.
In her speech to the legislative council at the time, she referenced examples of Davis getting kicked out of the council chamber during debate, after other councillors voted his behaviour was disrespectful.
Davis said he and Game had shared values and the party would be a “godsend” for voters.
“Sarah and I share the same belief in freedom, personal responsibility, and a fair go for every Australian,” he said.
“Together, we can build a united movement that actually stands up to Labor’s overreach and delivers real results.”
Game said Davis was a “great fit” for her Fair Go party, which is a “new force for South Australians”.
“We’re not here to recycle old parties; we’re here to unite people who’ve been left behind by politics-as-usual and give them a real voice and a real choice,” she said.
Game said Fair Go will target “winnable” lower house seats and build a team for the Legislative Council, led by Davis and the party has put a call-out for members.
Game is not due for re-election in the upcoming state election, holding her seat in the Legislative Council until 2030.
