SA-Best

The party was registered on 4 July 2017.{{cite web |url=http://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/parties-and-candidates/how-to-register-a-political-party/political-party-register |title=Register of political parties |publisher=Electoral Commission of South Australia |access-date=6 July 2017}} John Darley was the sole Nick Xenophon Team member in the South Australian Parliament until he left the party to become an independent on 17 August 2017.{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-17/john-darley-quits-nick-xenophon-team-south-australia/8817462 |title= MLC John Darley quits Nick Xenophon Team in South Australia |publisher= ABC |date=17 August 2017 }}

On 6 October 2017, Xenophon announced that he would be leaving the Federal Senate to contest the state seat of Hartley at the 2018 state election.{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-06/xenophon-to-return-to-state-poltiics/9022266 |title=Nick Xenophon to return to South Australian politics |date=6 October 2017 |website=ABC News (Australia) |access-date=6 October 2017}} Xenophon resigned from the Senate on 31 October 2017.

At its 2018 annual general meeting,{{when|date=March 2022}} the South Australian party officially changed its name from Nick Xenophon's SA-Best to SA-Best.

In late 2017, NSW-BEST, VIC-BEST, WA-BEST, QLD-BEST and NT-BEST were registered as business names, leading to speculation that the party would expand interstate.{{Cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/aliceworkman/nxt-heads-east|title=Nick Xenophon Is Quietly Expanding His Party Into Victoria And NSW|last=Workman|first=Alice|date=18 January 2018|website=BuzzFeed|access-date=31 March 2018}} However, as of 2022, none of these have formed political parties.

In the March 2018 South Australian election, SA-Best contested thirty-six seats in the South Australian House of Assembly and put forward four candidates for the upper house. The party charged candidates $1,000 to be considered for pre-selection, and a further $20,000 for running in the lower house, or a further $40,000 in the upper house, as well as fund their own local campaign.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/south-australia-election/labor-accuses-xenophon-of-failing-to-declare-donations/news-story/88a713b6c0c982a0ef5be81a67d7efd1 |title= Labor accuses Xenophon of failing to declare donations |work= The Australian }} - Article is behind a paywall.

The thirty-six House of Assembly seats contested were:

Badcoe,

Chaffey,

Cheltenham,

Colton,

Croydon,

Davenport,

Dunstan,

Elder,

Elizabeth,

Enfield,

Finniss,

Gibson,

Giles,

Hammond,

Hartley,

Heysen,

Hurtle Vale,

Kavel,

King,

Lee,

Mackillop,

Mawson,

Morialta,

Morphett,

Mount Gambier,

Narungga,

Newland,

Playford,

Port Adelaide,

Ramsay,

Reynell,

Schubert,

Taylor,

Unley,

Waite, and

Wright.

{{cite web |url=https://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/parties-and-candidates/house-of-assembly-candidates |title=House of Assembly candidates |publisher=Electoral Commission of South Australia |date=26 February 2018 |access-date=2 March 2018}}

[https://sabest.org.au/candidates/house-of-assembly/ House of Assembly], sabest.org.au. Accessed 24 February 2018.

[https://sabest.org.au/electorates/ Electorates], sabest.org.au. Accessed 24 February 2018.

[https://sabest.org.au/media/sa-best-announces-candidates-for-wright-and-newland/ SA-Best announces candidates for Wright and Newland], 15 February 2018, sabest.org.au

[https://sabest.org.au/media/sa-best-announces-candidates-for-king-and-croydon/ SA-Best announces candidates for King and Croydon], 17 February 2018, sabest.org.au[https://sabest.org.au/media/respected-educator-announced-as-sa-bests-candidate-for-reynell/ Respected educator announced as SA-Best's candidate for Reynell], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225064854/https://sabest.org.au/media/respected-educator-announced-as-sa-bests-candidate-for-reynell/ |date=25 February 2018 }} 21 February 2018, sabest.org.au

The party failed to secure any lower house seats,{{cite web |url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/results/ |title= SA Results |work= SA Election 2018 |publisher= ABC News (Australia) }} although there was a close contest in the historically safe Liberal seat of Heysen.{{cite web |url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/guide/heys/ |title= Heysen |work= SA Election 2018 |publisher= ABC News (Australia) }} Xenophon unsuccessfully contested Hartley and although he came second on the primary vote ahead of Labor's Grace Portolesi by 202 votes, the preference distribution of the eliminated fourth-placed Greens candidate turned Xenophon's 99-vote lead over Portolesi into a 357-vote deficit. Third-placed Xenophon was therefore eliminated, with Hartley reverting to the traditional Liberal vs Labor contest.[https://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/component/edocman/hartley-final-distribution-of-preferences/download 2018 Hartley final distribution of preferences: ECSA][http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/guide/hart/2018 Hartley election results: ABC] The party came second on primary votes in ten seats; the strongest results were in Chaffey, Finniss, and Hartley, where the party received over 25%.{{cite web |url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/guide/chaf/ |title= Chaffey |work= SA Election 2018 |publisher= ABC News (Australia) }}{{cite web |url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/guide/finn/ |title= Finniss |work= SA Election 2018 |publisher= ABC News (Australia) }}

In the upper house, SA-Best received 19.3% of the voted, securing two seats, with the election of Connie Bonaros and Frank Pangallo.{{cite web |url= http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa-election-2018/results/lc/ |title= Legislative Council results |work= SA Election 2018 |publisher= ABC News (Australia) }}{{cite web |date= 13 July 2017 |author = Kathryn Bermingham |work= The Advertiser |publisher= news.com.au |url= http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/former-today-tonight-journalist-frank-pangallo-to-take-up-role-as-media-adviser-to-nick-xenophon/news-story/b32c4b8717230a4dbd1984c22fd75f12 |title= Former Today Tonight journalist Frank Pangallo to take up role as media adviser to Nick Xenophon }}

At the 2022 South Australian election, SA-Best had one lower house candidate (in the seat of Giles), and two upper house candidates. The party received approximately 1.1% of the upper house vote, and no candidates were elected.

Upper house members are elected for eight-year terms; as such, Bonaros and Pangallo’s terms will expire in 2026.

In December 2023, Frank Pangallo left the SA-Best party.{{Cite web | title=Adelaidenow.com.au {{!}} Subscribe to The Advertiser for exclusive stories | url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/former-journalist-frank-pangallo-quits-sabest-after-falling-out-with-colleague-connie-bonaros/news-story/b85c7468122827313aa7d755fb3c9058 | access-date=2025-02-01 | website=www.adelaidenow.com.au}}

===Legislative Council===

• Connie Bonaros 2018–present
• Frank Pangallo 2018–2023

• Kris Hanna Mayor for Marion 2018–present

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{{Political parties in Australia}}

Category:Political parties in South Australia

Category:Centrist parties in Australia

Category:Political parties established in 2017

Category:2017 establishments in Australia