A One Nation candidate standing for Adelaide has been removed from the party's ticket on Friday after it emerged he faces an arrest warrant in the United Kingdom for failing to attend a court hearing on sexual assault allegations.
Aoi Baxter, 31, also known as Trent Baxter, was charged in September 2023 with sexually touching a woman without consent. He later failed to appear at the required British court hearing, leading to the warrant being issued against him.
One Nation stated it was unaware of the allegations when Baxter was endorsed. "Today we have been informed Mr Baxter has a warrant in the United Kingdom for failing to appear at a court hearing. This was not disclosed to One Nation by Mr Baxter," a statement from the party said on Friday.
The party confirmed it had conducted a national police check on Baxter as part of its vetting process for all candidates, but that check had revealed no issues. "Mr Baxter is no longer a One Nation candidate as a result of this news. One Nation will cooperate fully with law enforcement regarding this matter. We have been unable to contact Mr Baxter," the statement added.
Baxter's profile was removed from One Nation's website shortly after the disclosure.
The development arrives on the eve of a South Australian election where One Nation is tracking at historically strong levels. Latest polling shows One Nation on track to finish second in the state for the first time, with particularly strong support in regional areas, while the Liberals face their worst result to date, finishing third on just 19%. One Nation is projected to secure 22 per cent of the primary vote, matching its best-ever state result from Queensland in 1998.
The incident follows another campaign embarrassment for the major parties. The Liberal Party was forced to drop candidate Carston Woodhouse from the Wright seat after his comments on abortion, same-sex marriage and feminism surfaced during the campaign.
Saturday's South Australian state election is shaping up as a landslide for Labor and Peter Malinauskas, with One Nation predicted to outstrip the Liberals' primary vote. Malinauskas records a net satisfaction of plus 33, with 63 per cent satisfied and 30 per cent dissatisfied, while Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn records a net satisfaction of plus 7 with 42 per cent satisfied and 35 per cent dissatisfied.
The broader electoral landscape reflects structural shifts in South Australian politics. Voter retention is a major challenge for the Liberals, with only 55 per cent of those who voted Liberal in the last federal election intending to support the party at the state level, with 29 per cent now voting One Nation and 10 per cent Labor. In regional and rural South Australia, One Nation is pulling 39 per cent of the vote compared to the Liberal's 15 per cent.
Despite the strength of One Nation's polling position, translating primary support into parliamentary seats remains uncertain. South Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting, and in regional seats, contests are shaping into highly competitive multi-candidate races where outcomes will depend heavily on preference flows.