‘Little people just get stepped on’: South Australians sick of major parties are ripe for One Nation’s message

Saturday’s state election is the rightwing populist party’s first test since its surge in the polls. Will its vote match the aggrieved sentiment? Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Wearing a One Nation T-shirt, John Tate removes his Australian flag-branded bucket hat before asking the audience to stand, place a hand on their heart and sing the national anthem. As the final strains of the second verse peter out, a man in the front row bows his head and raises his fist in the air. It is just after 6pm on a Friday night and about 60 people are gathered inside Williamstown Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, about an hour’s drive north-east of Adelaide, for the launch of One Nation candidate Bruce Preece’s state election campaign. Tate says he was “shanghaied” into volunteering as Preece’s campaign manager for the Barossa Valley seat of Schubert. But he loves the Australian flag and hates the net zero emissions target, so he’s all in. Two One Nation “heavyweights” are here as special guests: the party’s state president and upper house candidate, Carlos Quaremba, and New South Wales senator Sean