Ballot royale: Who are the 12 candidates for Hammond at the 2026 state election?
We introduce you to those you might know already, and the five who nominated just before this week’s deadline.
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Voters will face a bamboozling decision at the ballot box after a record-breaking 12 candidates signed up to run in Hammond at this month’s state election.
Not only is that the largest number of candidates Hammond has ever seen, it’s more than any lower house seat has had before – the previous record was nine.
Five micro-parties submitted nominations in the lead-up to a Tuesday deadline: Family First, Fair Go for Australians, Legalise Cannabis, United Voice and the Australian Family Party.
Their candidates will join six others in opposing long-serving Liberal MP Adrian Pederick:
- Simone Bailey (Labor), the Mannum-based mayor of the Mid Murray council and an accountant by trade
- Airlie Keen (independent), from Callington, Murray Bridge’s deputy mayor and a former FIFA referee who currently works as a political staffer
- Robert Roylance (One Nation), a Mannum ferry driver and vodka and whisky distiller
- Nicole Palachicky (Greens), a carer from Murray Bridge
- Ruby Eckermann (Animal Justice), a Murray Bridge animal welfare advocate
- Lucas Hope (independent), a former youth worker from Callington
Who are the newcomers?
Here’s a guide as you prepare to vote.
Robert North, Family First
This party’s name will be familiar to many voters – it had local candidates in 2022 and at last year’s federal election, and has had MPs in both the South Australian and federal parliaments.
It is conservative by nature, campaigning on issues including “unsustainable” migration, opposition to renewable energy, “dangerous gender ideologies” and Australian values “like the celebration of Australia Day”.
Key figures in the party include former Australian Christian Lobby managing director Lyle Shelton and former Labor MPs Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon.
However, Murray Bridge News does not know much about Mr North – only his name and the electorate were listed on a party media release.
We have contacted the party to seek more information.
- More information: www.familyfirstparty.org.au/sa_2026.
Tristan Iveson, Sarah Game Fair Go for Australians
This new party has been built around upper-house MP Sarah Game, who was elected for One Nation in 2022 but defected and started her own thing last year.
Ms Game lists her election priorities as:
- Freedom, transparency and accountability
- Improving men’s health
- “Family values”, including the rights of parents to educate their children about gender identity and opposition to abortion
- Veterans’ wellbeing
- Reducing the cost of living by removing land tax and promoting nuclear power
- “Unifying South Australia” by abolishing the First Nations Voice
The party website has no information about any of its candidates, but a Tristan Iveson ran for One Nation in the western suburbs seat of Badcoe in 2022.
We’ve contacted Ms Game’s office for more information.
- More information: sarahgame.com.au.
James Murphy, Legalise Cannabis
Legalise Cannabis has made regular appearances on upper house ballot papers for years, but this will be the first time it runs candidates in South Australia’s House of Assembly.
The party stands for ending discrimination against medicinal cannabis users, ensuring a sustainable hemp industry, and allowing medicinal users to grow their own cannabis.
A party spokesman described Hammond candidate James Murphy as “a supporter of the movement but not a political operative” who was unlikely to run a high-profile campaign.
- More information: www.lcsaparty.org.au.
Carmelo Graziano, United Voice
Carmelo “Lenny” Graziano, from Walker Flat, wants to make a difference.
He’s concerned about the pressures on local families, the high cost of living, and a range of other issues – exports, immigration, the state of our roads, hospitals and infrastructure – but “families come first”.
The party he has thrown in with, United Voice, is a vehicle for Mark Aldridge, an Adelaide activist who has reportedly run for election at a federal, state and local level at least a dozen times, both as an independent and for One Nation, Trumpet of Patriots, the Great Australian Party and the Australian Federation Party.
United Voice’s website describes it as advocating for “responsible politics that truly represents the people”, including individual freedoms, responsible action on climate change, and promotion of hemp growing, among more generic aims like supporting small business, education and animal welfare.
The party’s Facebook page allegedly has more than 220,000 followers and features a grab bag of conservative headlines, AI images and posts seeking public feedback.
United Voice has nothing to do with a Labor-affiliated union of the same name which ceased to exist in 2019.
- More information: unitedvoiceaustraliaparty.com.
Bruce Hicks, Australian Family
The party might be new, but the candidate will be familiar to many Murray Bridge locals.
Bruce Hicks is a former principal of the former Murraylands Christian College, who presided over its growth into an R-12 school and its incorporation into the Tyndale Group of Schools.
At this election, he will represent the Australian Family Party, which is headed by former home building company owner Bob Day.
Mr Day served as a Family First Senator for South Australia from 2013-16, but resigned from that party after his re-election was ruled invalid by the High Court.
His new, conservative, Christian party opposes euthanasia, abortion and prostitution; over-regulation and taxation; the influence of “big tech”; restrictions on freedom of speech and religion; and the “prison” of workplace regulations.
- More information: australianfamilyparty.org.au.
Murray Bridge election forum is booked out
All election candidates are invited to a public election forum to be hosted by Murray Bridge News at Murray Bridge’s Bridgeport Hotel on Tuesday night, and eight have already confirmed they will attend.
Unfortunately, though, if you have not already booked your free spot, you may have to watch from home or wait for our story afterwards.
Strong public interest forced us to move the event into the hotel’s largest function room, then increase capacity twice, and all 120 tickets have now been taken.
That will make the audience about four times bigger than at our last state election forum, in 2022.
We will aim to live-stream next week’s event on our Facebook page.
- Watch live: Visit www.facebook.com/newsmurraybridge from 7pm next Tuesday, March 10.
