Seat of the week: Boothby

Another trip through a South Australian federal electorate to mark the looming state election – this time the southern coastal suburbs seat of Boothby, a nut Labor is never quite able to crack.

Blue and red numbers respectively indicate booths with two-party majorities for Liberal and Labor. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room.

The southern Adelaide electorate of Boothby covers coastal suburbs from Brighton south to Marino, extending inland to the edge of the coastal plain at Myrtle Bank and the hills at Belair, Eden Hills, Bellevue Heights and Flagstaff Hill. The seat’s Liberal lean is softened by the area around the defunct Tonsley Park Mitsubishi plant, the only part of the electorate with below average incomes and above average ethnic diversity. It has existed without interruption since South Australia was first divided into electorates in 1903, at which time it was landlocked and extended north into the eastern suburbs. Coastal areas were acquired when the neighbouring electorate of Hawker was abolished in 1993.

Boothby was held by Labor for the first eight years of its existence, and it remained a contested seat until the Menzies government came to power in 1949. This began a long-term trend to the Liberals which peaked in the 1970s, when margins were consistently in double digits. The seat’s member from 1981 until 1996 was Steele Hall, former Premier and figurehead of the early 1970s breakaway Liberal Movement. A trend to Labor became evident after the election of the Howard government in 1996, with successive swings recorded over the next five elections. The swing that occurred amid the otherwise poor result of the 2004 election was particularly encouraging for Labor, and raised their hopes at both the 2007 and 2010 elections. On the former occasion, Right powerbrokers recruited what they imagined to be a star candidate in Nicole Cornes, a minor Adelaide celebrity and wife of local football legend Graham Cornes. However, Cornes was damaged by a series of disastrous and heavily publicised media performances, and was only able to manage a swing of 2.4% compared with a statewide result of 6.8%. Perhaps reflecting a suppressed vote for Labor, the seat swung 2.2% in their favour at the 2010 election, compared with a statewide result of 0.8%. However, that still Labor 0.8% short of a win they had desperately hoped for to buttress losses in Queensland and New South Wales. With the seat off Labor’s target list in 2013, Southcott enjoyed a comfortable victory on the back of a 6.5% swing, which was 1.0% above the statewide par. Labor’s candidate in both 2010 and 2013 was Annabel Digance, who is now running in the seat of Elder for the March 15 state election.

Boothby has been held since 1996 by Andrew Southcott, who first won preselection at the age of 26 ahead of Robert Hill, the leading factional moderate in the Senate. The Right had reportedly built up strength in local branches with a view to unseating its bitter rival Steele Hall, and turned its guns on Hill as a “surrogate” when denied by Hall’s retirement. Unlike Hill, who went on to become government leader in the Senate, Southcott has led a fairly low-key parliamentary career, taking until after the 2007 election defeat to win promotion to Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training. After standing by Malcolm Turnbull in the December 2009 leadership vote, Southcott was demoted by a victorious Tony Abbott to parliamentary secretary, a position he has retained in government. Southcott’s preselection at the 2010 election was challenged by former state party president Chris Moriarty, following disquiet in the party over his fundraising record. However, Moriarty was heavily defeated, his challenge reported losing steam when Kevin Rudd’s first bid to return to the Labor leadership came to a head in February 2012.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,687 comments on “Seat of the week: Boothby”

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  1. @EDJ/1542

    It is when they effect the outcome of policy, project, and contract.

    Take the Australian Screen Association, who donated to both major parties, and now magically a crackdown on Piracy, after the ISP Filtering debacle during election.

  2. mikehilliard

    Mike, I’ve just finished transcribing Azita Bokan’s segment on 702 ABC Sydney, with Richard Glover re the “riot” on Manus Island.

    Remind me never to do that again, or to think that transcribing’s an easy job! Phew.

    I now have to re-listen and make sure I have everything down pat.

    I’m glad I don’t have to even listen to Jamie Briggs, for an instant. BK will tell you about that particular loser – even though he’s slated for bigger and better things within LNP, apparently.

    My son told me being in Fed Square last night was very sombre, but uplifting, and it certainly hit home that the young Iranian was his, and his friends, own age – just 23.

  3. And why is Chris Kenny never selected for a Qanda panel?

    The troll value alone of Kenny to a show like Qanda must be humungous!

  5. Ged Kearney would be a welcome addition to Caucus.

    I can see why Liberals would declare her unworthy. She is a woman after all.

  6. [What is it that Briggs said that has so enraged you all?]

    He was pathetic in answering the young girls question on entitlements for working weekends & seems to think that Saturdays & Sundays should all be part of a working week.

    That’s enough for me.

  8. confessions

    That was a rather odd question you asked about the late 70s-early 80s Malaysian solution.

    It was Fraser, in bipartisanship with Labor, who set up the migration of the quaintly-called Indo-Chinese which was in fact the influx of Vietnamese boat people after the end of the Vietnam war.

    What Fraser conveniently forgets to acknowledge, most of the time, was that it wouldn’t have happened peacefully had Labor not co-operated.

    Still . . . Labor’s nice; they’ll agree to do bi-partisanship for the good of the country. The LNP not so much. Never, in fact.

  9. [confessions
    Posted Monday, February 24, 2014 at 10:30 pm | PERMALINK
    Ged Kearney would be a welcome addition to Caucus.

    I can see why Liberals would declare her unworthy. She is a woman after all.]

    Gosh, a comment about sexism from confessions.

    Groundhog day?

  10. kezza

    Give my regards to your son. I am always impressed to hear of young people who are prepared to stand for what they think is fair & reasonable, they are our future.

  11. [I can see why Liberals would declare her unworthy. She is a woman after all.]

    Well im sure Ged has not spent Union funds on hookers, so she is one up on that score.

  12. [That was a rather odd question you asked about the late 70s-early 80s Malaysian solution.]

    Odd? I was simply highlighting Fraser’s apparent u-turn on the issue now the politics of it all suits him.

  18. confessions

    I provided the context of why Fraser is saying what he is saying now. He did have a triumph, his only one really, with Australians accepting Vietnamese boat people. And the only reason he had a triumph is because of Labor.

    There’s no U-turn on Fraser’s behalf on this one. He DID preside over the successful integration of Vietnamese into Australian society.

    And it looks as if he’s now prepared to throw a couple of his Lib colleagues in with him now. Like Holt.

    And to throw that racist Howard under a bus, to boot.

  21. Senate estimates on Apac

    [AFP starting to get a bit tetchy with Xenophon’s questioning. … oh. you’re all watching QandA… never mind.]

  22. [confessions
    Posted Monday, February 24, 2014 at 10:39 pm | PERMALINK
    Gosh, a comment about sexism from confessions.

    And entirely valid given the circumstances.]

    Oh really?

    What circumstances are they?

  23. kezza:

    My comment on Fraser was in the context of the Malaysia agreement, then and now.

    As I said, if FRaser has about-faced on his opposition to the then Malaysia Solution he deserves credit.

  25. [What circumstances are they?]

    *Points to the scoreboard*

    1. How many federal Cabinet ministers are there at present?

    2. How many of them are women?

    You want to diss Kearney? Come up with something more credible than her union affiliations when your own party has an apparent serious aversion to promoting successful women beyond mere eye candy manbag status for your boofhead frickin leader.

  26. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or something?

    I just said there was a well worn path from Union to ALP candidate…..not sure where you got your rant from out of that! :devil:

    It would appear that it doesn’t take much to get you guys angry these days….

  28. BTW: You said it was sexist that people didn’t refer to Gillard as “Prime Minister Gillard”.

    You have now just called the current Prime Minister a “boofhead friction leader”.

    ….just saying

  29. confessions
    [As I said, if FRaser has about-faced on his opposition to the then Malaysia Solution he deserves credit.]

    You’re missing the point, dear heart. Fraser set up the initial Malaysian solution. There was no opposition to it, there was merely support from Labor.

    That’s what’s so fucking pathetic about today’s so-called Liberal Party. They’re going against everything they stood for back then.

    And Howard, the Coward, is to blame, for the current state of affairs. His small-minded xenophobic slime has infiltrated even the most civic-minded people. Rummel comes to mind.

  30. I am getting the feeling that the blog no longer thinks all that matters is stopping the boats.

    That was a good prediction on my part wasn’t it?

    Looks like I was right all along and everyone now agrees with me 🙂

  31. [victoria
    Posted Monday, February 24, 2014 at 10:47 pm | PERMALINK
    Senate estimates on Apac

    AFP starting to get a bit tetchy with Xenophon’s questioning. … oh. you’re all watching QandA… never mind.]

    Hey, tell me more. I’m not watching Q&A.

  32. [Ged Kearney would be a welcome addition to Caucus.]

    I am hoping there is more to come from Ged as well.

    Enjoyed seeing Terri Butler welcomed to the HOR today, another women on the Labor benches.

  34. [Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or something?]

    No. I woke up this morning same as always.

    [You have now just called the current Prime Minister a “boofhead friction leader”.]

    No, I just referred to him as a boofhead frickin leader, which he is. When I start comparing to him as man bits in a derogatory and humiliating way, you might have a point.

  37. The only panellist on QandA who was not good was Briggs. I did not agree with the brigadier general much but at least she made real contributions

  38. kezza:

    Personally I couldn’t give a shit what Fraser thinks about things today. He had his time as PM and has been well and truly judged for it.

    Time for him to sink into his dotage.

  39. Everything, Briggs doesn’t enrage me, he seems nice. But still just another small “l” lib propping up a big “L” Lickspittle Party.

  40. The panic about asylum seekers is primarily a panic of the political class, that politicos on the left and right continually project onto the public, but for whom polls show it remains no more than a middling concern. It is a panic out of all proportion to its real impact because asylum seekers capture two concerns that the political class has no solution for: a declining social base (Labor) and authority and “sovereignty” (the Coalition).

    http://www.pipingshrike.com/2014/02/sovereignty.html

  41. Fraser is suddenly a pin-up boy for the far-left PBers. Boy, what losers you are if you’ve got to cling to a discredited ex-Lib PM who you hate for knocking off your folk hero Whitlam.

    “Fraser said …” “Fraser has altered his views”. The only think of note ever uttered by Fraser is: “WHERE ARE MY TROUSERS”.

  42. Mod Lib:

    If you want to make a point about sexism and misogyny in federal politics, then the only questions you have to answer are these:

    1. How many federal Cabinet ministers are there?
    2. Of these, how many are women?

    This tells Australians all they need to know about the state of the current Liberal party.

  43. Haven’t posted for a week or so but #1580 was so absurd it really tickled my funny bone ……..

    “Looks like I was right all along and everyone now agrees with me ”

    Two simple sentences joined by the conjunction “and”, which are both so very far from reality. This claim is such a joke.

  44. vic

    What I thought about Senate Estimates last year I think, was when Wong and Faulkner cross-examined Abetz about the processes regarding staffing appointments.

    It was hilarious.

    Abetz was at his sarcastic best, but he did admit, and it’s in Hansard, that all appointments were decided by committee and these were signed off by Abbott.

    He refused to say just who was on the panel committee, although it came out later that Brian Loughnane, Peta Credlin, and Kevin Andrews, were three of them. And some other non-entity Lib person.

    He even admitted his own preference for CoS was vetted by this committee, and that preference didn’t make the grade, but was just now appointed as an advisor.

    This is telling, because as much as Labor want Fiona Nash’s head on a plate, because of her advisor Furnival, it was actually the PM&C who signed off on the appointment of Furnival.

    If anyone’s head should be on a plate over Furnival, it is Abbott.

    It’s about time Labor played rought and tuff over these appointments. No more pissing about. Sure, a PM will sign off on these appointments, but because of the nature of these particular appointments, all having to be vetted by PM&C office, then there’s no where else for them to turn regarding responsibility.

    Oh well.

  48. But still just another small “l” lib propping up a big “L” Lickspittle Party. if he is a ‘liberal’, his career in the hard-right Liberal Party will be severely limited unless he renounces his past principles and positions and embraces the Dark Side.

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