Division of Sturt

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Sturt
Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Sturt 2019.png
Division of Sturt
Map
Interactive map of boundaries
Created1949
MP James Stevens
Party Liberal
Namesake Charles Sturt
Electors 129,151 (2022)
Area85 km2 (32.8 sq mi)
DemographicInner metropolitan

The Division of Sturt is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. It was proclaimed at the South Australian redistribution of 11 May 1949. Sturt was named for Captain Charles Sturt, nineteenth century explorer. Following the loss of Boothby in 2022, it is currently the only seat in Adelaide held by the Liberal Party.

Contents

Boundaries

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned. [1]

Currently stretching from Adelaide's mortgage belt suburbs in the centre-east to the wealthy south-eastern suburbs, boundaries at the seat's creation saw it take in suburbs as far west as Port Adelaide and as far north as Virginia until 1955, after which it began to occupy solely the eastern area of Adelaide. Current boundaries see Sturt covering an area of approximately 85 km² east of the city, from Oakden and Hope Valley in the north to Glen Osmond in the south, taking in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges. Suburbs include Athelstone, Burnside, Campbelltown, Dernancourt, Frewville, Gilles Plains, Glen Osmond, Glenside, Glynde, Hectorville, Highbury, Hillcrest, Holden Hill, Hope Valley, Kensington, Klemzig, Magill, Marden, Oakden, Paradise, Tranmere and parts of Payneham and Rostrevor.

History

Charles Sturt, the division's namesake Charles Sturt by John Michael Crossland lowres color.jpg
Charles Sturt, the division's namesake

Sturt was first created for the 1949 election as a fairly safe Labor seat with a notional 6.1 percent two-party margin. However, for all but four of its first 44 years, it was dominated by the Liberal political dynasty of Keith Wilson and his son, Ian. Keith Wilson won the seat in 1949 with a marginal 2.8 percent two-party vote from an 8.9 percent two-party swing as part of the massive Liberal victory of that year. He was unseated by Labor challenger Norman Makin at the 1954 election. However, ahead of the 1955 election, a redistribution transferred most of Sturt's Labor-friendly territory to the newly-created Division of Bonython, turning Sturt from a three percent marginal Labor seat to a 2.4 percent marginal Liberal seat. Makin opted to transfer to Bonython, and Keith Wilson retook Sturt in 1955 with a healthy 7.9 percent two-party swing, turning it into a safe Liberal seat in one stroke. He was reelected without serious difficulty until handing Sturt to Ian in 1966. Norm Foster defeated Ian at the 1969 election, but Ian regained the seat at the 1972 election even as Labor won government.

Ian was a key early member of the progressive Liberal Movement faction within the Liberal Party. However, he remained with the Liberals when the Liberal Movement became a separate party, and eventually served as a minister in the last term of the Fraser government. The Liberal Movement ran a candidate in Sturt in the 1974 election, polling 7.2 percent, much of which derived from Wilson’s vote. The Wilson dynasty ended at the 1993 election, when Ian was defeated for preselection by Christopher Pyne. Sturt was significantly redistributed prior to the 1993 election, reducing the Liberal margin from a fairly safe 7.7 percent two-party margin to a marginal notional 4.7 percent two-party margin. However, Pyne retained the seat with a small swing in his favour, and has been returned at every election since.

The Liberal Movement's successor party, the Australian Democrats, traditionally polled well in Sturt, highlighted by 13.5 percent at their first showing in the 1977 election and 15 percent in the 1990 election, the best result by a minor party in Sturt. However, the Democrats vote later dropped sharply, they gained only 2.26 percent in the 2004 election. The party was deregistered in 2015. Additionally, an independent Liberal contested Sturt at the 1993 election, polling a respectable 14.6 percent.

2007 election

Pyne came close to losing Sturt at the 2007 election to Labor candidate Mia Handshin, after suffering a 5.9 percent two-party swing to finish with a 0.9 percent two-party margin (856 votes), which made Sturt the most marginal seat in South Australia. Prior to the pre-selection of Handshin, No Pokies MP Nick Xenophon had been considering running in the seat as an independent, before deciding to run for the Senate instead. At the 2010 election, Pyne increased his two-party vote to 53.4 percent, which saw neighbouring Boothby become South Australia's most marginal seat. Pyne increased his two-party margin to 10.1 percent in the 2013 election and was elevated to the Cabinet of Australia.

2016 election and Xenophon

Nick Xenophon confirmed in December 2014 that the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) party would field lower and upper house candidates around the country at the 2016 federal election, citing the government's ambiguity on the Collins-class submarine replacement project as the primary motivation. [2]

Even before the NXT candidate was announced, a ReachTEL opinion poll of 700 Sturt voters conducted during July 2015 put NXT on 38 percent, the Liberals on 30.8 (−23.6) percent and Labor on 17.4 (−11.5) percent. On the two-party vote, the Liberals were on 52 (−8.1) percent to Labor on 48 (+8.1) percent, however, with NXT leading the primary vote, the decisive two-candidate vote put NXT on a winning 62 percent to the Liberals on 38 (−22) percent. [3] ABC psephologist Antony Green's 2016 federal election guide for South Australia stated NXT had a "strong chance of winning lower house seats and three or four Senate seats". [4]

In late 2015, NXT nominated Sturt as their top South Australian lower house target and announced Matthew Wright as their NXT candidate in Sturt. Wright is an emergency physician at the Flinders Medical Centre who has also worked for humanitarian projects in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and East Timor. [5] [6]

A ReachTEL opinion poll in Sturt of 762 voters conducted by robocall on 9 June during the 2016 election campaign found NXT and the Liberals neck-and-neck. [7] [8]

Pyne retained the seat for the Liberals with a 55.9 percent two-party vote from a 4.2 percent two-party swing, reducing the seat from a safe to marginal status.

Members

ImageMemberPartyTermNotes
  Keith Wilson-1950-an23530385.jpg Keith Wilson
(1900–1987)		 Liberal 10 December 1949 –
29 May 1954 		Previously a member of the Senate. Lost seat
  Norman Makin 1950s.png Norman Makin
(1889–1982)		 Labor 29 May 1954 –
10 December 1955 		Previously held the Division of Hindmarsh. Transferred to the Division of Bonython
  Keith Wilson 1960s.png (Sir) Keith Wilson
(1900–1987)		 Liberal 10 December 1955 –
31 October 1966 		Retired. Son was Ian Wilson
  Ian Wilson 1960s.png Ian Wilson
(1932–2013)		 Liberal 26 November 1966 –
25 October 1969 		Lost seat
  Norm Foster 1970.jpg Norm Foster
(1921–2006)		 Labor 25 October 1969 –
2 December 1972 		Lost seat. Later elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1975
  Ian Wilson 1960s.png Ian Wilson
(1932–2013)		 Liberal 2 December 1972 –
8 February 1993 		Served as minister under Fraser. Lost preselection and retired. Father was Sir Keith Wilson
  Christopher Pyne MP.jpg Christopher Pyne
(1967–)		 Liberal 13 March 1993 –
11 April 2019 		Served as minister under Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison. Retired
  James Stevens
(1983–)		 Liberal 18 May 2019 –
present		Incumbent

Election results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Australian federal election in South Australia § Sturt.[ edit ]
2022 Australian federal election: Sturt [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal James Stevens 48,57943.14−7.43
Labor Sonja Baram34,52830.66+0.80
Greens Katie McCusker18,45416.39+5.21
United Australia Stephen Grant3,0082.67+0.25
One Nation Alexander Allwood2,8932.57+2.57
Animal Justice David Sherlock1,5311.36−0.34
Liberal Democrats Thomas McMahon1,1471.02+1.02
Democratic Alliance Inty Elham1,0070.89+0.89
Australian Federation Kathy Scarborough7550.67+0.67
Progressives Angela Fulco4570.41−0.10
TNL Chris Schmidt2510.22+0.22
Total formal votes112,61094.51−0.12
Informal votes6,5415.49+0.12
Turnout 119,15192.38−1.27
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal James Stevens 56,81350.45−6.42
Labor Sonja Baram55,79749.55+6.42
Liberal hold Swing −6.42
Primary vote results in Sturt (Parties that did not get 5% of the vote are omitted)
  Liberal
  Labor
  Greens
  Australian Democrats
  Xenophon
  One Nation
  Independent
Two-candidate-preferred results in Sturt

Historical boundaries

Sturt in 1951 Sturt1949.PNG
Sturt in 1951
Sturt in 1967 Sturt1967.PNG
Sturt in 1967

See also

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Muller, Damon (14 November 2017). "The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide". Parliament of Australia. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "Subs backlash, Nick Xenophon sets sights on Liberal-held seats in Adelaide: SMH 6 April 2015". Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Union poll shows Pyne at risk: InDaily 29 July 2015". Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Election Guide (SA) - 2016 federal election guide: Antony Green ABC". Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Nick Xenophon Team nominates five top targets for upcoming federal election: ABC 7 December 2015". Archived from the original on 7 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  6. ↑ 2016 NXT candidates: NXT.org.au Archived 23 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "Grey opinion poll 9 June". ReachTEL. 10 June 2016. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  8. ↑ "ReachTEL: 50-50 - The Poll Bludger 10 June 2016". Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Sturt, SA, 2022 Tally Room, Australian Electoral Commission.

34°53′38″S138°40′26″E / 34.894°S 138.674°E / -34.894; 138.674

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