Port Adelaide axed, Boothby becomes SA’s only marginal seat under radical boundary redraw

SENIOR Labor frontbencher Mark Butler will need to find a new home to stay in Federal Parliament as the seat of Port Adelaide is formally abolished — with the state only having one marginal seat for both major parties to contest at the next election.

• APRIL: Federal electorate of Port Adelaide to be abolished
• Two Labor MPs fight over one seat
• Low population growth means SA House of Reps seats cut to 10

SENIOR Labor frontbencher Mark Butler is “looking at all options” after the electoral commission formally axed his seat of Port Adelaide today.

In a blow to the state, both major parties are set to only have one seat to vie over in the coming Federal Election — Liberal backbencher Nicolle Flint’s southern suburbs seat of Boothby.

The Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday morning confirmed it will cut the number of seats in the state down to 10 from the current 11 as a result of South Australia’s low population growth.

The radical redraw abolishes the seat of Port Adelaide with the western suburbs seat of Hindmarsh — held by Mr Butler’s left factional ally Steve Georganas — taking in almost half of its electors.

Mr Butler said he was disappointed in the decision to abolish the seat he had represented since 2007.

“The Port is perhaps the best-known and most iconic part of South Australia - home to the State’s oldest football club, one of the oldest local councils, and to a proudly progressive community,” he said.

“I will look at all my options as I continue to serve my community.

“I know that the Port is a resilient community whose spirit and character will shine through, regardless of the federal seat in which it lies.”

The shift will turn Hindmarsh into a safe Labor seat after traditionally having been a marginal seat which was held by the Liberals as recently as the 2013 election.

The move will spark a factional brawl within Labor ranks as Mr Butler, who only last week lost a bid to be national president to Wayne Swan, searches for another seat.

The new electorate of Spence — as revealed in the proposed redraw in April.

Labor currently has two winnable seats that would be vacant at the next election — the seat of Adelaide held by the Right and second spot on the party’s Senate earmarked for the Left.

But Mr Butler, Labor’s energy and climate change spokesman, was understood to want to remain in the House of Representatives.

In a twist, Mr Butler’s home would be located in the new Hindmarsh, while Mr Georganas’ primary residence would be pushed into the redrawn Adelaide.

The Left faction had been pushing to cut a deal with the Right to allow Mr Georganas to replace retiring MP Kate Ellis in Adelaide.

But The Advertiser understands such a deal would come at a high price — which could include only giving up the seat for one term as well as demanding other sweeteners such as the former premier Jay Weatherill’s safe state seat of Cheltenham.

Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said the final boundaries resulted principally from the need to reduce the number of electoral divisions from 11 to 10.

“Abolishing an electoral division, together with the need to ensure that all of SA’s 10 electoral divisions then meet the numerical requirements of the Electoral Act, means that changes have been made to the boundaries of all electoral divisions in SA,” Mr Rogers said.

Shadow Minister for Energy Mark Butler will need to find a new seat if he wants to stay in the Federal Parliament. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The redraw committee was not swayed by any of the arguments to alter the draft proposal including concerns about abolishing Port Adelaide and changes to Boothby.

It found abolishing an alternative electoral division — Labor had proposed Cabinet Minister Christopher Pyne’s seat of Sturt — along with the adjustments necessary to accommodate this change would not result in an improved outcome at this time.

Hundreds of objections were made moving the suburbs of Aberfoyle Park, Flagstaff Hill and Happy Valley out of Boothby and into Labor-held Kingston.

These objections were made on the basis of a stronger community of interest link between the suburbs of Aberfoyle Park, Flagstaff Hill and Happy Valley with the Blackwood and City of Mitcham area but were dismissed.

Wakefield would be renamed Spence in recognition of Catherine Helen Spence for her work as an advocate for female suffrage and electoral reform which doubles the number of SA electoral divisions named after women from one to two.

There were some objections to the name change but the redraw committee found the proposed seat of Spence was significantly different from the existing Wakefield as it changed from a hybrid urban/rural electoral division to one with a predominantly urban focus.

The redistribution would be formally recorded on Friday July 20.

The changes did not affect the Mayo by-election which was being conducted on the boundaries in place for the Division of Mayo at the 2016 Federal Election.