Florey MP Frances Bedford to run for Newland in 2022

Francis Bedford has held the seat of Florey since 1997. But she has announced she will contest another seat at the 2022 state election – and it could cause a big headache for the Liberals.

Independent MP Frances Bedford will leave the electorate she has held for almost a quarter of a century to contest the state’s most marginal seat at the 2022 state election.

Florey MP Ms Bedford, 67, announced on Sunday she will run for the neighbouring northeast seat of Newland, which is currently held by first-term Liberal MP Richard Harvey, with a margin of just 0.2 per cent.

The move could prove a major headache for the Liberal government, which only days ago lost its third MP this term to the crossbench.

A loss of Newland to Ms Bedford – a real possibility given her popularity within the northeast and the likelihood she would receive preferences from Labor and the Greens – could open the door for a hung parliament at the March polls.

A change in electoral boundaries, which squeezed Modbury Hospital out of Florey, was a key reason behind Ms Bedford’s decision.

Ms Bedford said alterations, to take effect from 2022, would turn Florey into the old seat of Playford, retaining only a small part of Para Vista and taking in the further-west suburbs of Para Hills, Para Hills West, Parafield Airport and most of Mawson Lakes.

“Making this decision has been hard, but it comes down to where I can do the most good for the people of the northeast,” she said.

Ms Bedford said she would campaign on health, education, aged care and the cost of living in the lead up to the election.

Frances Bedford. Picture: AAP Image/ Brenton Edwards

Dr Harvey said Ms Bedford’s decision to run against him would not change his focus which was seeking to deliver for his community, including upgrading Modbury Hospital and building a new car park for the O-Bahn.

“At the end of the day, people in the community here will make their decision,” he said.

Premier Steven Marshall said “a vote for Frances Bedford of course is a vote for the Labor Party”.

“I expect (the seat) to stay in the Liberal Party,” he said.

Kavel MP Dan Cregan told Mr Marshall on Friday he was quitting the Liberal party to contest the upcoming election as an independent, increasing the total number of crossbenchers in the Lower House to six.

The defection plunged the government deeper into minority, leaving the Liberals with 22 seats compared to Labor’s 19.

In February, then-Liberal backbencher Fraser Ellis announced he had resigned from the party and joined the crossbench after ICAC charged him over the country members allowance scandal. His matter is still before the courts.

And in 2020, Waite MP Sam Duluk suspended his Liberal Party membership and became a independent MP after he was accused of slapping the bottom of a fellow MP at a Christmas Party in 2019. Police charged him with basic assault and he was found not guilty in September this year.

In the same month, Mr Duluk announced he would not seek to rejoin the Liberal Party ahead of the 2022 polls and would instead seek re-election as an independent

Ms Bedford has held Florey since 1997, first as a Labor MP before becoming an Independent MP in 2017.

Tea Tree Gully Councillor Olivia Savvas was announced in August as Labor’s candidate for Newland.