Electoral district of Goyder
| Goyder South Australia—House of Assembly | |
|---|---|
 Electoral district of Goyder (green) in South Australia | |
| State | South Australia |
| Created | 1970 |
| MP | Steven Griffiths |
| Party | Liberal Party of Australia (SA) |
| Namesake | George Goyder |
| Electors | 24,777 (2014) |
| Area | 9,258 km2 (3,574.5 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Rural |
Goyder is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a 9,258 km² rural electorate located on the Yorke Peninsula and taking in the towns of Ardrossan, Bute, Edithburgh, Kadina, Maitland, Minlaton, Moonta, Port Wakefield, Wallaroo and Yorketown. It is currently held by Steven Griffiths of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is not to be confused with the Northern Territory electorate of Goyder. As with its Northern Territory counterpart, the electorate is named after George Goyder, a former state Surveyor-General famous for developing Goyder's Line, which indicated the area of the state that had enough rainfall to be suitable for agriculture.
The abolished seat of Yorke Peninsula formed part of the newly created seat of Goyder at the 1970 election. Goyder has been in non-Labor hands since its creation at the electoral redistribution of 1969, but has had a surprisingly turbulent history. It won by James Ferguson at the 1970 election for the conservative Liberal and Country League, but was won by Steele Hall, who had not long before resigned as Opposition Leader, for the breakaway Liberal Movement at the 1973 election. Hall resigned in 1974 to run for the Australian Senate at the 1974 federal election, and his seat was successfully held for the Liberal Movement by David Boundy at the 1974 Goyder by-election. In 1976, the Liberal Movement merged back into the Liberal Party of Australia (the Liberal and Country League having changed its name to that of the federal party after the initial split), and Boundy was given Liberal endorsement to recontest the seat at the 1977 election, defeating challenger Keith Russack for preselection. However, Russack subsequently contested and won the election as an independent Liberal, and was later accepted back into the party. He was succeeded by John Meier at the 1982 election, who subsequently represented Goyder for 24 years. Meier retired at the 2006 election and successor candidate Steven Griffiths has held the seat comfortably since.
Members for Goyder
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Ferguson | Liberal and Country | 1970–1973 | |
| Steele Hall | Liberal Movement | 1973–1974 | |
| David Boundy | Liberal Movement | 1974–1976 | |
| Liberal | 1976–1977 | ||
| Keith Russack | Independent Liberal | 1977–1977 | |
| Liberal | 1977–1982 | ||
| John Meier | Liberal | 1982–2006 | |
| Steven Griffiths | Liberal | 2006–present | |
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Steven Griffiths | 11,968 | 53.7 | −4.5 | |
| Labor | Elyse Ramsay | 6,394 | 28.7 | +1.6 | |
| Family First | John Bennett | 1,633 | 7.3 | +0.1 | |
| Independent | Bob Nicholls | 1,126 | 5.1 | +5.1 | |
| Greens | Graham Smith | 744 | 3.3 | −1.8 | |
| National | Kim McWaters | 416 | 1.9 | +1.9 | |
| Total formal votes | 22,281 | 96.2 | +0.2 | ||
| Informal votes | 878 | 3.8 | −0.2 | ||
| Turnout | 23,159 | 93.5 | −0.3 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Liberal | Steven Griffiths | 14,022 | 62.9 | −2.8 | |
| Labor | Elyse Ramsay | 8,259 | 37.1 | +2.8 | |
| Liberal hold | Swing | −2.8 | |||