SA Premier Reveals Bondi Terror Attack Triggered Surge of Support for One Nation

Peter Malinauskas said One Nation is winning support from both Labor and the Liberal parties.

Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas at press conference during day one of LIV Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia on Feb. 12, 2026. Sarah Reed/Getty Images

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has revealed Labor’s internal polling found support for One Nation surged in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack that killed 15 people.

Speaking at the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) State of the Nation conference, Malinauskas said that Labor polling in November 2025 found little support for the conservative-leaning party in South Australia.

“And then Bondi happened,” he said, referring to the Hanukkah event at Bondi a month later, which would become the worst terror incident on Australian soil.

“It didn’t happen instantly, but once we got into January, we started to see it take off.”

He said the polling suggested One Nation’s support came from voters across the political spectrum.

“What happened was a heap of Liberal voters voted for One Nation; a heap of Liberal voters voted for Labor when they might otherwise not normally, but then also there was a big tranche of Labor voters that voted One Nation,” he said.

The party went from polling “zero” in South Australia to winning the second highest number of votes—more than 20 percent—in the recent state election and secured representation in both houses of parliament.

One Nation has also recorded strong results in recent by-elections, including the New South Wales federal electorate of Farrer, ending the Liberal-National Coalition’s 77-year hold on the seat.

One Nation also received 25 percent of the primary vote in a by-election in the Victorian seat of Nepean in May of this year, outperforming the Liberal Party, which took 19 percent—although Labor did not contest either seat.

One Nation has said its support is driven by concerns over immigration levels, housing affordability, energy prices, and the cost of living.

Party Leader Pauline Hanson has linked those pressures to a broader critique of multiculturalism, calling instead for a “monocultural” Australia and arguing that national cohesion and shared values have been weakened by years of government policy.