Stuart
South Australia—House of Assembly
Map of South Australia with electoral district of Stuart highlighted
Electoral district of Stuart (green) in South Australia
StateSouth Australia
Dates current1938–1993, 1997–present
MPGeoff Brock
PartyIndependent
NamesakeJohn McDouall Stuart
Electors23,420 (2018)
Area323,130.8 km2 (124,761.5 sq mi)
DemographicRural
Coordinates30°14′S 137°53′E / 30.233°S 137.883°E / -30.233; 137.883
Electorates around Stuart:
N. T. N. T. Queensland
Giles Stuart N. S. W.
Frome
Narungga		 Chaffey
Frome		 N. S. W.
Footnotes
Electoral District map[1]

Stuart is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. At 323,131 km², it is a vast country district extending from the Spencer Gulf as far as the Northern Territory border in the north and the Queensland and New South Wales borders in the east. The district includes pastoral lease and unincorporated Crown Lands, Lake Eyre and part of the Simpson Desert in the far north. Its main population centres since the 2020 boundaries redistribution are the industrial towns of Port Pirie and Port Augusta.[2]

The electorate is named after John McDouall Stuart, who pioneered a route across through this area from the settled areas in the south to the port of Darwin in the north. This route later became the path of the overland telegraph and then The Ghan railway.

The electorate was created in the 1936 redistribution—taking effect at the 1938 election. Based on Port Augusta, it was one of the few country areas where the Labor Party did well, and for most of its existence was a comfortably safe Labor seat. It became even safer in 1977, when it absorbed Port Pirie. It was abolished in 1993. Most of its territory, including Port Augusta, was merged with the neighbouring seat of Eyre, while Port Pirie was transferred to the revived Frome.

The seat was revived ahead of the 1997 election. While the old Stuart had been a relatively compact district centred around Port Augusta and Port Pirie, the recreated Stuart was a vast electorate that stretched from Port Augusta to the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales borders. It took in the eastern half of the abolished seat of Eyre, with the western half going to the Whyalla-based seat of Giles. On these boundaries, it was notionally a safe Liberal seat.

Graham Gunn, the longtime member for Eyre, transferred to Stuart, but saw his margin dwindle over the next three elections, culminating in 2006 when he won by just 233 votes after distribution of preferences. He retired at the 2010 election. His successor, former basketball player Dan van Holst Pellekaan, gained a large swing at the 2010 election, making it a safe Liberal seat in one stroke. He actually won an outright majority on the first count.

Pellekaan consolidated his hold on the seat in 2014, picking up the largest swing in the state. He picked up a further swing in 2018 as the Liberals won government, increasing his majority to 23.1 percent, the third-safest in the state. While Port Augusta still tilted toward Labor, as it had for more than a century, it was not enough to overcome the increasingly conservative bent of the rest of the seat.

A redistribution in 2020 transferred Port Pirie from Frome to Stuart. Port Pirie is as strongly Labor as Port Augusta, and its addition pared back Pellekaan's majority to 11.5 percent. Frome was held by independent Geoff Brock, who was based in the city.[3][4] In the 2022 state election, Pellekaan, who by then had become Deputy Premier, faced a challenge from Brock, who transferred from Frome. Brock defeated Pellekaan by a large margin.[5] The swing against Pellekaan was large enough to make Stuart notionally a Labor seat in a "traditional" two-party preferred contest for the first time in its present incarnation.

Members for Stuart

First incarnation (1938–1993)
Member Party Term
  Lindsay Riches Labor 1938–1970
  Gavin Keneally Labor 1970–1989
  Colleen Hutchison Labor 1989–1993
Second incarnation (1997–present)
Member Party Term
  Graham Gunn Liberal 1997–2010
  Dan van Holst Pellekaan Liberal 2010–2022
  Geoff Brock Independent 2022–present

Election results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 South Australian state election (House of Assembly) § Stuart.[edit]
2022 South Australian state election: Stuart
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Geoff Brock 10,396 48.5 +13.8
Liberal Dan van Holst Pellekaan 6,079 28.3 −15.9
Labor Andrew Wright 3,124 14.6 −0.8
One Nation David Stone 1,192 5.5 +5.5
Greens Beth Leese 660 3.1 −1.0
Total formal votes 21,451 97.6
Informal votes 525 2.4
Turnout 21,976 87.0
Notional two-party-preferred count
Labor Andrew Wright 50.8 +14.7
Liberal Dan van Holst Pellekaan 49.2 −14.7
Two-candidate-preferred result
Independent Geoff Brock 14,403 67.1 +67.1
Liberal Dan van Holst Pellekaan 7,048 32.9 −28.7
Independent gain from Liberal  

Notes

  1. ↑ Electoral District of Stuart (Map). Electoral Commission of South Australia. 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Stuart: 2022-2026 electoral district map". Electoral Commission of South Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. ↑ "New State Electoral Boundaries for South Australia Finalised". Antony Green's Election Blog. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. ↑ "Electoral redistribution in regional South Australia means popular MPs will go head-to-head in 2022". ABC News. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  5. ↑ "Deputy Premier Dan van Holst Pellekaan loses seat". ABC News. 19 March 2022.

References

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