Electoral district of Adelaide

This article is about the South Australian state electorate. For the Australian federal electorate, see Division of Adelaide. For the historical South Australian state electorate, see Electoral district of City of Adelaide.

Adelaide South Australia—House of Assembly
Map of Adelaide, South Australia with electoral district of Adelaide highlighted Electoral district of Adelaide (green) in the Greater Adelaide area
State	South Australia
Created	1902
MP	Rachel Sanderson
Party	Liberal Party of Australia (SA)
Namesake	Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Electors	24,779 (2014)
Area	23.4 km2 (9.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Metropolitan
Coordinates

Adelaide is an electorate for the South Australian House of Assembly. The 23.4 km² state seat of Adelaide currently consists of the Adelaide city centre and suburbs in the inner north and inner north east: North Adelaide, Walkerville, Gilberton, Medindie, Medindie Gardens, Thorngate, Fitzroy, Ovingham, most of Prospect up to Regency Road, and parts of Collinswood and Nailsworth. The boundaries have been the same for the past three elections. The federal division of Adelaide covers the state seat of Adelaide and additional suburbs in each direction.

The electorate's name comes from the city which it encompasses, which is named after Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the German born Queen consort of the King of England, King William IV. Originally the seat of City of Adelaide from 1857 to 1862, Adelaide was created from the seats of East Adelaide and West Adelaide as a four-seat multi-member district, surrounded by the other two metropolitan districts of 13 seats total being Torrens and Port Adelaide, from the 1902 election. Adelaide became a three-member district from the 1915 election, and then changed from a multi-member to single-member seat upon the introduction of the Playmander from the 1938 election.

For most of the next half-century, the seat was comfortably safe for the Australian Labor Party. A significant redistribution in 1983 saw the Labor two-party vote reduced from 66 percent to 47 percent, transforming into a notional marginal Liberal seat in one stroke. However, Labor retained the seat at the 1985 election, albeit as the most marginal seat in parliament. Liberal Michael Armitage narrowly took the seat at the 1989 election--the first time that they or their predecessors, the Liberal and Country League, had won it in its single-member incarnation. The Liberal high-tide in Adelaide occurred at the landslide 1993 election, with the Liberal two-party vote swelling to a safe 64.1 percent. However, it once again became a marginal Liberal seat at the 1997 election.

After a redistribution ahead of the 2002 election made the seat even more marginal, Armitage tried to transfer to the much friendlier seat of Bragg, but lost a preselection battle to Vickie Chapman. Labor candidate Jane Lomax-Smith regained the seat for Labor at the 2002 election as a marginal seat, one of two gains that assisted Labor in forming government. It became a safe Labor seat at the landslide 2006 election on a 60.2 percent two-party vote, before the Liberals won Adelaide for the second time at the 2010 election on a swing of over 14 percent, turning it from safe Labor to marginal Liberal in one stroke. The Liberals retained Adelaide at the 2014 election on a marginal 52.4 (−1.8) percent two-party vote.

Members for Adelaide

Four-member electorate (1902–1915)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Lewis Cohen	National League	1902–1906		Bill Denny	Independent Liberal	1902–1905		Hugh Dixson		1902–1905		Johann Scherk		1902–1905
					William David Ponder	Labor	1905–1915		Ernest Roberts	Labor	1905–1908		James Zimri Sellar	Labor	1905–1906
	Bill Denny	Labor	1906–1915
													Reginald Blundell	Labor	1907–1915
									Edward Alfred Anstey	Labor	1908–1915

Three-member electorate (1915–1938)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	Bill Denny	Labor	1915–1933		Reginald Blundell	Labor	1915–1917		John Gunn	Labor	1915–1917
						National	1917–1918		Bert Edwards	Labor	1917–1931
					John Gunn	Labor	1918–1926
					Herbert George	Labor	1926–1933
		Parliamentary Labor	1931–1933						Martin Collaton	Lang Labor	1931–1932
										Labor	1932–1933
	Doug Bardolph	Lang Labor	1933–1934		Bob Dale	Lang Labor	1933–1933		Tom Howard	Lang Labor	1933–1933
						SA Lang Labor	1933–1934			SA Lang Labor	1933–1934
		Labor	1934–1935			Labor	1934–1938			Labor	1934–1938
		Independent	1935–1938

Member		Party	Term
	Doug Bardolph	Independent	1938–1944
	Bob Dale	Labor	1944–1947
	Herbert George	Labor	1947–1950
	Sam Lawn	Labor	1950–1971
	Jack Wright	Labor	1971–1985
	Michael Duigan	Labor	1985–1989
	Michael Armitage	Liberal	1989–2002
	Jane Lomax-Smith	Labor	2002–2010
	Rachel Sanderson	Liberal	2010–present

Election results

See also: Electoral results for the district of Adelaide

South Australian state election, 2014: Adelaide

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Rachel Sanderson	10,543	48.7	+4.2
	Labor	David O'Loughlin	7,812	36.1	+2.7
	Greens	Robert Simms	2,551	11.8	+0.1
	Dignity for Disability	Anna Tree	748	3.5	+1.6
Total formal votes			21,654	98.0	+1.8
Informal votes			433	2.0	−1.8
Turnout			22,087	89.1	−0.9
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Rachel Sanderson	11,341	52.4	−1.8
	Labor	David O'Loughlin	10,313	47.6	+1.8
	Liberal hold		Swing	−1.8

References

• ABC profile for Adelaide: 2014
• ECSA profile for Adelaide: 2014
• Poll Bludger profile for Adelaide: 2014

External links

• The 13 electorates from 1902 to 1915: The Adelaide Chronicle