Electoral districts of South Australia

Since 1970, the South Australian House of Assembly (the "lower house") has consisted of 47 single-member electoral districts consisting of approximately the same number of enrolled voters. The district boundaries are regulated by the State Electoral Office, according to the requirements of the South Australian Constitution and are subject to mandatory redistributions by the State Electoral Office in order to respond to changing demographics.

Contents

Boundary adjustments

Electoral boundaries are adjusted after each election. The primary consideration is to attempt to ensure that the party that obtains 50% or more of the overall vote at a general election is able to form a government. The number of electors in each district must be within 10% of the average at the time of the redistribution order. After these primary considerations, other issues are considered, including economic, social and regional communities of interest.[1] Despite this elaborate and expensive process, the system is not particularly reliable; cases where the party forming government has received less than 50% of the two-party-preferred vote are not un-common, and have occurred in two of the last three elections.

Election 1970 1973 1975 1977 1979 1982 1985 1989 1993 1997 2002 2006 2010
Govt ALP ALP ALP ALP Lib ALP ALP ALP Lib Lib ALP ALP ALP
# of seats 27 26 24 27 27 25 29 24 37 26 24 32 26
% of seats 57.4 55.3 51.0 57.4 57.4 53.2 61.7 51.0 78.7 55.3 51.0 68.0 55.3
% of vote 53.3 54.5 49.2 53.4 55.0 50.9 53.2 48.1 61.0 51.5 49.1 56.8 48.4

List of the current 47 electoral districts

Maps


Numbers of Electorates and Members

Since 1938, the South Australian House of Assembly has had single-member electoral districts. From 1938-1968 there were 39 districts. Since 1970 there have been 47 electoral districts. From 1857-1933, the number of districts varied between 12 (1912-1915) and 27 (1890-1901). Each district returned from 1-6 members.

Parliaments Years elected Districts Members
1, 2 1857, 1860 17 36
3, 4, 5, 6, 7 1862, 1865, 1868, 1870, 1871 18 36
8, 9, 10 1875, 1878, 1881 22 46
11, 12 1884, 1887 26 52
13, 14, 15, 16 1890, 1893, 1896, 1899 27 54
17, 18, 19, 20 1902, 1905, 1906, 1910 13 42
21 1912 12 40
22, 23, 24, 25, 26,
27, 28		 1915, 1918, 1921, 1924, 1927,
1930, 1933		 19 46
29, 30, 31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36, 37, 38,
39		 1938, 1941, 1944, 1947, 1950,
1953, 1956, 1959, 1962, 1965,
1968		 39 39
40, 41, 42, 43, 44,
45, 46, 47, 48, 49,
50, 51, 52		 1970, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1979,
1982, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997,
2002, 2006, 2010		 47 47

Electoral Districts

This table gives the number of members returned by each electoral district at each election.

1857
-1862		 1862
-1875		 1875
-1884		 1884
-1890		 1890
-1902		 1902
-1912		 1912
-1915		 1915
-1938		 1938
-1956		 1956
-1970		 1970
-1985		 1985
-1993		 1993
-1997		 1997
-2002		 2002
-now
Districts 17 18 22 26 27 13 12 19 39 39 47 47 47 47 47
Members 36 36 46 52 54 42 40 46 39 39 47 47 47 47 47
District
Adelaide 6 4 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Albert 2 2 2 2 1 1
Alexandra 4 4 3 1 1 1
Angas 1 1
Ashford
Barossa 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3
Bragg
Bright
The Burra and Clare 3
The Burra 2 2
Burra 2 2 1 1
Burra Burra 3 3 3
Burnside 1 1
Chaffey 1 1 1
Cheltenham
Colton
Croydon
Davenport
East Adelaide 2 2 2
East Torrens 2 2 2 2 2 3
Elder
Encounter Bay 2 2 2 2 2
Enfield
Eyre 1 1 1
Finniss
Fisher
Flinders 1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 1 1 1
Florey
Frome 2 2 1 1 1
Gawler 1 1
Giles
Gladstone 2 2
Glenelg 1 1 1
Goodwood 1
Gouger 1 1 1
Goyder
Gumeracha 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
Hammond
Hartley
Heysen
Hindmarsh 1 1
Kaurna
Kavel
Lee
Light 2 2 3 2 2 1 1 1
Little Para
MacKillop
Mawson
Millicent 1 1
Mitcham 1 1 1
Mitchell
Morialta
Morphett
Mount Barker 2 2 2 2 2
Mount Gambier 1 1 1
The Murray 1
Murray 3 3 3 1 1 1
Murray-Mallee 1
Napier
Newcastle 2 2 2 1 1
Newland
Noarlunga 2 2 2 2 2
North Adelaide 1 2 2 2
Northern Territory 2 2
Norwood 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Onkaparinga 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
Playford
Port Adelaide 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 1 1 1
Port Pirie 2 1 1
Prospect 1
Ramsay
Reynell
Ridley 1 1 1
Rocky River 1 1 1
Semaphore 1 1 1 1
Schubert
Stanley 2 2 2 3 3 2 1
Stirling 1 1
Stuart 1 1 1 1 1 1
The Sturt 2 2
Sturt 2 2 2 3
Taylor
Thebarton 1
Torrens 5 5 1 1 1 1 1 1
Unley 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Victoria 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
Victoria and Albert 3 3
Waite
Wallaroo 3 2 2 3 3 2 1 1
West Adelaide 2 2 2 2
West Torrens 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1
Wooroora 2 2 2 3 3 3
Wright
Yatala 2 2 2 2 2
Yorke Peninsula 2 1 1
Young 1
1857
-1862		 1862
-1875		 1875
-1884		 1884
-1890		 1890
-1902		 1902
-1912		 1912
-1915		 1915
-1938		 1938
-1956		 1956
-1970		 1970
-1985		 1985
-1993		 1993
-1997		 1997
-2002		 2002
-now

Abolished electoral districts

These electoral districts no longer exist (incomplete list):

See also

References

  1. ^ "Electoral Questions & Answers" (PDF, page 11). State Electoral Office, South Australia. http://seo.sa.gov.au/apps/uploadedFiles/news/276/SEO_QA06_13feb06.pdf. Retrieved 2006-11-08. 

External links

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