Election results defy predictions of 'experts'

I'd read many articles and seen the poll results predicting victory for Bill Shorten (pictured) and Labor. I swallowed it all hook, line and sinker.

Even as I watched the results unfolding on Saturday night, I kept expecting Labor's seat count to go up.

But soon talks of the Coalition forming a minority government began, and as the days evolved, the minority has turned into a majority.

It's taught me a valuable lesson about not always believing what you hear.

I've also learnt a thing or two about how easily the vocal minority can drown out the silent majority. For the past few weeks, my social media feeds have been full of people sharing their thoughts and, far too often, pushing their views on others and harshly criticising people who dared to express a differing opinion. The sentiments expressed in the vast majority of these posts only served to solidify my belief that come Monday, we'd have a new government.

What I couldn't see was the millions of people who chose to express their opinion only on polling day, when it really counted.

Regional SA voters rallied behind familiar faces this election, with incumbents in Grey, Mayo and Barker all re-elected with increased margins.

The Labor Party undoubtedly has a lot of soul-searching to do. Its efforts to promote Prime Minister Scott Morrison as representing only the 'top end of town' failed to match the Coalition's attack on Labor's poor economic management credentials.

And in hindsight, perhaps its campaign to portray Mr Morrison as having been disloyal to former PM Malcolm Turnbull was unwise, given the role Mr Shorten is widely considered to have played in the tumultuous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years.

The path ahead will also be an interesting one for Centre Alliance, which has battled to build a clear identity since evolving from its days as the Nick Xenophon Team. While Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie's performance was impressive, the party failed to win one of the six Senate seats available and had little impact in the other electorates it contested.

Having pulled off what he described as a "miracle" election win, Mr Morrison now must achieve the political version of turning water into wine - delivering billions in campaign promises wthout jeopardising our long-awaited federal budget surplus.