Electoral district of South Perth

South Perth Western Australia—Legislative Assembly
State or territory:	Western Australia
Dates current:	1950–present
MP:	John McGrath
Party:	Liberal
Namesake:	South Perth
Area:	19 km² (7 sq mi)
Demographic:	South Metropolitan

South Perth is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia.

The district is located in the suburbs immediately south of the Perth CBD.

Although occasionally held by an independent, South Perth has typically been a safe Liberal seat. It has never been won by the Labor Party.

Geography

South Perth is made up of affluent waterside areas in Perth's inner south. The district is bounded to the north by the Swan River and to the west and south by the Canning River. A series of roads separates the electorate from neighbouring eastern districts. The seat includes the suburbs of Como, Karawara, Manning, Salter Point, Waterford, as well as parts of the suburbs of Kensington and South Perth.

History

South Perth was first created for the 1950 state election and has existed continuously as an electorate since. It was first won by Liberal candidate George Yates, previously the member for Canning. He was succeeded after one term by Bill Grayden, initially as an independent but soon after as a Liberal. Grayden had previously been the state member for Middle Swan and the federal member for Swan. Grayden was the member for South Perth for 37 years, finally retiring in 1993.

The seat's next MP was Phillip Pendal, first elected as a Liberal but twice re-elected as an independent. Upon Pendal's retirement at the 2005 state election, the seat returned to the Liberal fold when current member John McGrath was elected as its representative.

Members for South Perth

Member		Party	Term
	George Yates	Liberal	1950–1956
	Bill Grayden	Independent Liberal	1956–1959
		Liberal	1959–1993
	Phillip Pendal	Liberal	1993–1995
		Independent	1995–2005
	John McGrath	Liberal	2005–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of South Perth

Western Australian state election, 2008: South Perth
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John McGrath	10,136	52.9	+7.5
	Labor	Leena Michael	4,594	24.0	-8.5
	Greens	Ros Harman	2,016	10.5	+2.1
	Independent	Jim Grayden	1,767	9.2	-1.7
	Family First	Karen McDonald	473	2.5	+2.5
	Independent	Frank Hough	184	1.0	+1.0
Total formal votes			19,170	95.7	-0.9
Informal votes			858	4.3	+0.9
Turnout			20,028	85.1
Two-candidate preferred result
	Liberal	John McGrath	12,310	64.3	+6.9
	Labor	Leena Michael	6,845	35.7	-6.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+6.9

External links

• ABC Election Profiles: 2005 2008
• WAEC District Maps: 1996–2005 2005–2008 2008–