Electoral district of Port Adelaide

This article is about the South Australian state electorate. For the federal electorate, see Division of Port Adelaide.

Port Adelaide South Australia—House of Assembly
Electoral district of Port Adelaide (green) in the Greater Adelaide area
State	South Australia
Dates current	1857–1970, 2002–present
MP	Susan Close
Party	Australian Labor Party (SA)
Namesake	Port Adelaide
Electors	27,895 (2018)
Area	118.75 km2 (45.8 sq mi)
Demographic	Metropolitan
Coordinates	34°48′13″S 138°33′15″E
Electorates around Port Adelaide: Gulf St Vincent Taylor Taylor Gulf St Vincent Port Adelaide Ramsay Playford Florey Gulf St Vincent Several Torrens
Footnotes
Electoral District map

Port Adelaide is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. Named after Port Adelaide, which it surrounds, it is a 118.8 km² suburban and industrial electorate on Adelaide's Lefevre Peninsula, and stretches east toward Adelaide's northern suburbs. It contains a mix of seaside residential areas, wasteland and industrial regions. In addition to its namesake suburb of Port Adelaide, the district includes the suburbs of Birkenhead, Bolivar, Cavan, Dry Creek, Ethelton, Exeter, Garden Island, Gepps Cross, Gillman, Glanville, Globe Derby Park, Largs Bay, Largs North, New Port, North Haven, Osborne, Ottoway, Outer Harbor, Peterhead, Semaphore, Semaphore South, St Kilda, Taperoo, Torrens Island, Wingfield, as well as part of Rosewater.

Port Adelaide has had three incarnations as a South Australian electoral district.

Port Adelaide was the name of an electoral district of the unicameral South Australian Legislative Council from 1851 until its abolition in 1857.

From 1857 until 1902 it was a two-seat multi-member district. From 1902 until 1915 it was a large three-seat multi-member district covering Adelaide's north-west and western suburbs; together with the four-member Adelaide and five-member Torrens, the three districts with a total of 12-members covered the whole of the metropolitan area in the 42 member house. The district returned to two members in 1915, and became a single member district from the 1938 election onward. It was held without interruption by Labor until the district's abolition prior to the 1970 election, and for most of that time was one of Labor's safest seats. The bulk of its territory was split between the neighbouring seats of Semaphore and Price. The last member for this seat's original incarnation, John Ryan, transferred to Price.

The seat was recreated in 2002, essentially as a reconfigured version of Hart (which was itself created in 1993 as a replacement for Semaphore). Like its previous incarnation, it is a comfortably safe Labor seat. The member for Hart, deputy premier and state treasurer Kevin Foley, followed most of his constituents into the recreated seat and held it easily. At the 2006 election, Foley increased his margin from 21.7 percent to 25.7 percent, and gained a majority in all booths. Foley retired in 2011, triggering a by-election held in February 2012. Susan Close retained the seat for Labor.

Members

Two members (1857–1902)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	John Hart, Sr.		1857–1859		John Hughes		1857–1858
					Edward Collinson		1858–1860
	William Owen		1860–1862		Patrick Coglin		1860–1865
	John Hart, Sr.		1862–1866
					David Bower		1865–1870
	Jacob Smith		1866–1868
	Henry Hill		1868–1870
	William Quin		1870–1871		Henry Kent Hughes		1870–1875
	John Duncan		1871–1875
	William Quin		1875–1880
					David Bower		1875–1887
	John Hart, Jr.		1880–1881
	William Mattinson		1881–1890
					George Hopkins		1887–1893
	Ben Rounsevell		1890–1893
	William Archibald	Labor	1893–1902		Ivor MacGillivray	Labor	1893–1902

Three members (1902–1915)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	William Archibald	Labor	1902–1910		Ivor MacGillivray	Labor	1902–1915		Thomas Brooker		1902–1905
									Henry Chesson	Labor	1905–1915
	Thompson Green	Labor	1910–1915

Two members (1915–1938)
Member		Party	Term	Member		Party	Term
	John Price	Labor	1915–1925		Ivor MacGillivray	Labor	1915–1917
						National	1917–1918
					John Stanley Verran	Labor	1918–1924
					Frank Condon	Labor	1924–1927
	John Stanley Verran	Labor	1925–1927
	John Jonas	Labor	1927–1933		Thomas Thompson	Protestant Labor	1927–1930
					Albert Thompson	Labor	1930–1938
	James Stephens	Labor	1933–1938

Single-member (1938–1970)
Member		Party	Term
	James Stephens	Labor	1938–1959
	John Ryan	Labor	1959–1970
Single-member (2002–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Kevin Foley	Labor	2002–2011
	Susan Close	Labor	2012–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Port Adelaide

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 South Australian state election (House of Assembly) § Port Adelaide.[edit]

2022 South Australian state election: Port Adelaide

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Susan Close	14,074	58.3	+10.4
	Liberal	Chad McLaren	5,448	22.6	+4.0
	Greens	Jim Moss	2,471	10.2	+4.4
	Family First	Lucia Snelling	1,204	5.0	+5.0
	Animal Justice	Adrian Romeo	945	3.9	+0.0
Total formal votes			24,142	96.6
Informal votes			850	3.4
Turnout			24,992	88.1
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Susan Close	17,335	71.8	+5.0
	Liberal	Chad McLaren	6,807	28.2	−5.0
	Labor hold		Swing	+5.0

References

• ECSA profile for Port Adelaide: 2018
• ABC profile for Port Adelaide: 2018
• Poll Bludger profile for Port Adelaide: 2018