Division of Kingston

Kingston Australian House of Representatives Division
300px Kingston (dark green) in the city of Adelaide
Created	1949
MP	Amanda Rishworth
Party	Labor
Namesake	Charles Kingston
Electors	98,775 (2013)
Area	171 km2 (66.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer Metropolitan

The Division of Kingston is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia covering the far-south portion of the Adelaide metropolitan area. The 171 km² seat stretches from Hallett Cove and O'Halloran Hill in the north to Sellicks Beach in the south, including the suburbs of Aldinga Beach, Christie Downs, Christies Beach, Hackham, Hallett Cove, Huntfield Heights, Lonsdale, Maslin Beach, Moana, Morphett Vale, Old Noarlunga, Onkaparinga Hills, Port Noarlunga, Reynella, Seaford, Sellicks Beach, Sheidow Park, Port Willunga, Trott Park, Woodcroft, and parts of Happy Valley and McLaren Flat.

The division was first created for the 1949 election as a notionally fairly safe Labor seat, and is named after Charles Kingston, Premier of South Australia (1893–1899), elected to the first House of Representatives in 1901 and the first Federal member of the Division of Adelaide in 1903. However, it fell to the Liberals in that election, only to have Labor win it at the 1951 election. This started a tradition of Labor and the Liberals alternating for long spells in the seat. It has tended to elect an MP from the governing party of the day, having elected only four opposition MPs. Notably, every sitting member in the electorate's history has been defeated at the polls—none have retired or resigned.

Kingston has been represented by Labor MP Amanda Rishworth since the 2007 election where she won with a 54.4 percent two-party vote from a 4.5 percent swing. Going into the 2010 election, it was the most marginal Labor seat in South Australia. However, Rishworth made it the second-safest Labor seat in the state (behind only Port Adelaide) by winning a 64 percent two-party vote from a 9.5 percent swing, the largest vote of any party in Kingston's history. At the 2013 election, Rishworth suffered a 4.9 percent swing to finish on a 59.7 percent two-party vote, but was still the second largest vote of any party in Kingston's history. It is currently Labor's second safest seat in South Australia, behind only Port Adelaide.

Redistributions

File:Division of Kingston 2010.png

The historic larger incarnation of Kingston.

The redistribution before the 2013 election removed Kingston's rural areas with the transfer of around 6,500 voters in McLaren Vale and Willunga to Mayo, increasing Labor's Kingston margin by half a percent. This substantially reduced the area covered by the electorate, down from 377 to 171 square kilometres, almost the same as the 2001 to 2004 boundaries. The previous larger boundaries were used from 2004 to 2010 and 1993 to 1998. Boundaries from 1984 to 1990 were similar to the current but without the southern coastal strip.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Jim Handby	Liberal	1949–1951
	Pat Galvin	Labor	1951–1966
	Kay Brownbill	Liberal	1966–1969
	Richard Gun	Labor	1969–1975
	Grant Chapman	Liberal	1975–1983
	Gordon Bilney	Labor	1983–1996
	Susan Jeanes	Liberal	1996–1998
	David Cox	Labor	1998–2004
	Kym Richardson	Liberal	2004–2007
	Amanda Rishworth	Labor	2007–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Kingston

Australian federal election, 2013: Kingston

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Amanda Rishworth	43,328	49.26	−2.50
	Liberal	Damien Mills	28,492	32.40	+3.99
	Greens	Palitja Moore	6,062	6.89	−5.22
	Family First	Geoff Doecke	5,168	5.88	+0.08
	Palmer United	Mitchell Frost	3,709	4.22	+4.22
	Rise Up Australia	Andy Snoswell	1,191	1.35	+1.35
Total formal votes			87,950	94.93	+0.09
Informal votes			4,697	5.07	−0.09
Turnout			92,647	93.80	−0.53
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Amanda Rishworth	52,504	59.70	−4.85
	Liberal	Damien Mills	35,446	40.30	+4.85
	Labor hold		Swing	−4.85

References

• ABC profile for Kingston: 2013
• AEC profile for Kingston: 2013
• Poll Bludger profile for Kingston: 2013

External links

• SA boundary map, 2001: AEC
• SA boundary map, 1984: Atlas SA