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Electoral district of Finniss

Coordinates: 35°28′49″S 138°41′34″E / 35.48028°S 138.69278°E / -35.48028; 138.69278
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Finniss
South AustraliaHouse of Assembly
Map of South Australia with electoral district of Finniss highlighted
Electoral district of Finniss (green) in South Australia
StateSouth Australia
Created1993
MPDavid Basham
PartyLiberal Party of Australia (SA)
NamesakeB. T. Finniss
Electors23,814 (2018)
Area1,004 km2 (387.6 sq mi)
DemographicRural
Coordinates35°28′49″S 138°41′34″E / 35.48028°S 138.69278°E / -35.48028; 138.69278
Electorates around Finniss:
Mawson Heysen Hammond
Mawson Finniss Hammond
Southern Ocean Southern Ocean MacKillop
Footnotes
Electoral District map[1]

Finniss is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after B. T. Finniss, the first Premier of South Australia. It covers a 1,004 km2 (388 sq mi) regional area which includes the localities of Back Valley, Currency Creek, Encounter Bay, Finniss, Goolwa, Goolwa Beach, Goolwa North, Goolwa South, Hayborough, Hindmarsh Island, Hindmarsh Tiers, Hindmarsh Valley, Lower Inman Valley, McCracken, Middleton, Mosquito Hill, Mount Compass, Mount Observation, Mundoo Island, Nangkita, Port Elliot, Tooperang, and Victor Harbor; as well as parts of Inman Valley and Waitpinga.

Finniss has been a very safe seat for the Liberal Party since its creation at the 1991 electoral redistribution as a replacement for the equally safe Alexandra. Dating to its time as part of Alexandra, the area now in Finniss has been held by Liberals or their predecessor, the Liberal and Country League, without interruption since 1941. For most of that time, it has been a comfortably safe LCL/Liberal seat.

It was contested for the first time at the 1993 election by newly elected Liberal leader Dean Brown, who had returned to parliament after a seven-year absence by winning the 1992 Alexandra state by-election. Brown had little difficulty winning Finniss, and subsequently became Premier after the election. Brown was later toppled as Premier by Liberal rival John Olsen in 1996, and was initially expected to retire, but remained in parliament as a senior member of consecutive Liberal ministries and shadow ministries, and served as deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2001 to 2005—the first six months of that tenure as Deputy Premier. Brown retired at the 2006 election, and was succeeded by Liberal candidate Michael Pengilly, who held off a concerted attempt by the SA Nationals to take the seat.

Pengilly held the seat easily until retiring at the 2018 election. David Basham retained the seat for the Liberals, despite a spirited challenge from SA-BEST. Indeed, SA-BEST's showing in Finniss was strong enough to make the seat marginal for the first time in its current configuration. However, Finniss remains a comfortably safe Liberal seat in a "traditional" two-party matchup with Labor; Basham only suffered a small swing against Labor.

Most of Finniss is located within the Centre Alliance-held federal Division of Mayo.

Members for Finniss

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Member Party Term
  Dean Brown Liberal 1993–2006
  Michael Pengilly Liberal 2006–2018
  David Basham Liberal 2018–present

Election results

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2022 South Australian state election: Finniss
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Basham 10,424 43.1 −0.4
Labor Amy Hueppauff 5,532 22.9 +6.1
Independent Lou Nicholson 4,728 19.6 +19.6
Greens Anne Bourne 1,647 6.8 −0.9
One Nation Carlos Quaremba 1,146 4.7 +4.7
Family First Dominic Carli 614 2.5 +2.5
National Joe Ienco 82 0.3 +0.3
Total formal votes 24,173 96.9
Informal votes 778 3.1
Turnout 24,951 92.1
Notional two-party-preferred count
Liberal David Basham 56.6 −12.1
Labor Amy Hueppauff 43.4 +12.1
Two-candidate-preferred result
Liberal David Basham 12,258 50.7 −13.7
Independent Lou Nicholson 11,915 49.3 +49.3
Liberal hold  

Notes

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  1. ^ Electoral District of Finniss (Map). Electoral Commission of South Australia. 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.[permanent dead link]

References

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