SA electoral boundaries challenge dismissed by SA Supreme Court
AN appeal by the Labor Party against a radical redraw of the state’s electoral boundaries has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
- How the Electoral Commission reshaped the state’s political map
- Why the Labor Party claims the boundaries decision was unfair
- Why the case ended up in the Full Court of the Supreme Court
- See the redrawn maps for all 47 South Australian seats
AN appeal by the Labor Party against a radical redraw of the state’s electoral boundaries was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Friday morning.
The boundaries shake-up, announced late last year, shifted almost 400,000 South Australians into different seats and — according to political analysts — placed the Liberal Party in pole position to form the next government.
A rare Full Court sitting of five Supreme Court judges — Chief Justice Chris Kourakis and Justices Anne Bampton, Trish Kelly, Malcolm Blue and Martin Hinton — heard the legal challenge in February.
Labor appealed the commission’s findings after a decision by the party’s state secretary, Reggie Martin.
Its argument was that the redraw meant some voters would have more influence than others due to a disparity in elector numbers in some seats.
However, Labor’s case was dismissed in a unanimous decision by the five judges on Friday morning.
They found that the Electoral Commission did not need to ensure that each seat had an equal number of voters.
The judges also ruled the commission had not erred in finding no evidence that the Liberal Party’s alleged “poor placement of resources during the 2014 election campaign” had contributed to it winning the statewide vote without gaining a majority of seats.
Liberal Party state director Sascha Meldrum said the party welcomed the decision.
“The commission has produced a fair outcome for South Australian voters and the Full Bench of the Supreme Court has today supported this outcome,” she said after the judgment was handed down.
Opposition Deputy Leader Vickie Chapman said the decision meant the parties now had “a clearer set of rules”.
“We’ve got a set of boundaries that are fairer. We’re keen now to get on with it,” she said.
“We’re up for the fight for 2018. For the interests of the state we’re keen to win it.”
Labor Party lawyer Adrian Tisato said the party was disappointed by the decision and “respectfully disagrees with it”.
Mr Tisato said the party would consider whether to seek leave to appeal further to the High Court “very quickly”, likely within a few days.
“We have to carefully consider the decision,” he said.
The next state election will be now held with the redrawn seats on March 17 next year.
The major parties are part-way through the process of preselecting candidates.
The Liberals, who have long complained the state electoral system is rigged against them, notionally gained four seats on paper in the December redraw, which are currently held by Labor.
Under the state’s unique and complex electoral laws, the boundaries were drawn so a clear majority of 27 seats would fall on the conservative side of SA Parliament if every person voted the same way in March 2018 as they did at the ballot box in 2014.
These included two seats now held by the independent ministers in Labor’s Cabinet — Port Pirie MP Geoff Brock and former Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith.
Parties must win at least 24 seats to govern in their own right in SA.
The total number of voters shunted into new seats as a result of the redraw was 398,710. The number of electors moved by the last redistribution in 2012 was just 89,000.