SA’s 2016 electoral boundaries redraw favours Liberal Party over Labor Party in several seats
A RADICAL redraw of state electoral boundaries has shifted almost 400,000 South Australians into different seats and the Liberals into pole position to form the next government.
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A RADICAL redraw of state electoral boundaries has shifted almost 400,000 South Australians into different seats and the Liberals into pole position to form the next government.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall emerged as the big winner on Thursday as the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission delivered its final report as part of a four-yearly review.
The Liberals, who have long complained the state electoral system is rigged against them, notionally gained four seats on paper, currently held by Labor.
They include Tourism Minister Leon Bignell’s far southern suburbs se
at of Mawson, two in Adelaide’s west – Elder and Colton – as well as the Tea Tree Gully-based Newland.
Under the state’s unique and complex electoral laws, the boundaries have been 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.
Parties must win at least 24 seats to govern in their own right in SA. The 27 conservative seats created in the redraw include two now held by the independent ministers in Labor’s Cabinet – Port Pirie MP Geoff Brock and former Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith.
Current polls show the Liberals have held or marginally improved their position since the last state election, and the party is confident of defeating Mr Hamilton-Smith.
Mr Marshall did not comment on the new boundaries, leaving SA Liberal Party president Steve Murray to issue a short statement that “commends” the commission for the “transparent and professional approach” it took to the redraw.
Premier Jay Weatherill also batted away questions. SA Labor secretary Reggie Martin said he was “obviously disappointed” the final report flipped seats to the Liberals.
Mr Hamilton-Smith was one of the few to comment on the report, declaring he would stand again in Waite despite half of it being traded to neighbouring seats and claimed he would consider backing the Liberals or Labor after the election.
“My only focus is what’s best for SA,” he said.
However, both sides are wary of the threat from minor parties, including the Nick Xenophon Team and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, as trust in traditional politics slides.
SA has a history of electing hung parliaments, and the total vote for minor parties and independents in SA has reached a record high of 40 per cent.
Senator Xenophon on Thursday said he would create a “genuine three-cornered contest in many of these seats” and “run in seats held by both parties” at election in 2018. “Given what we’re polling, I think people want a genuine alternative,” he said. “SA could well set a precedent and make history at the next state election.”
The Nick Xenophon Team currently has one state MP, in the Upper House.
The total number of voters shunted into new seats as a result of the redraw is 398,710. The number of electors moved by the last redistribution in 2012 was just 89,000.
It is a huge shift that will reduce the traditional advantage for incumbent MPs.
The new boundaries can be challenged by either party within 30 days, in a court appeal. The commission – made up of Supreme Court Judge Ann Vanstone, Acting Electoral Commissioner David Gully and Surveyor-General Michael Burdett – said it had been swayed between its draft and final reports by Liberal legal arguments.
It said these included criticisms that the draft report would have still delivered a Labor government if the vote was split 50-50 in 2018. The revised final report predicts a hung parliament, with Mr Brock again the kingmaker, if the split-vote scenario emerges.