Division of Boothby

Boothby Australian House of Representatives Division
Division of Boothby in South Australia, as of the 2019 federal election.
Created	1903
MP	Nicolle Flint
Party	Liberal
Namesake	William Boothby
Electors	123,969 (2019)
Area	130 km2 (50.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Outer Metropolitan

The Division of Boothby is an Australian federal electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named after William Boothby (1829–1903), the Returning Officer for the first federal election.^[1]

At the 2016 federal election, the seat covered 130 km², extending from Clarence Gardens and Urrbrae in the north to Marino and part of Happy Valley in the south, including the suburbs of Belair, Blackwood, Brighton, Daw Park, Eden Hills, Marion, Mitcham, Seacliff, St Marys and Panorama.

History[]

William Boothby, the division's namesake

Before 1949 and the creation of the Division of Sturt, Boothby covered most of the southern and eastern suburbs of Adelaide. For much of the first half-century after Federation, it was one of only three seats based on the capital, the others being Adelaide and Hindmarsh. The mostly rural seat of Barker was then considered a "hybrid urban-rural" seat, stretching all the way from the southern tip of South Australia at least as far as Glenelg and the Holdfast Bay area, and at times even stretched as far as the western metropolitan suburbs of Keswick and Henley Beach.

For most of the first half-century after Federation, Boothby was a marginal seat that changed hands several times between the Liberal Party of Australia (and its predecessors) and the Australian Labor Party. The 1949 expansion of parliament saw parts of the southern portion transferred to the newly created Division of Kingston and parts of the eastern portion transferred to the newly created Sturt. This saw Boothby change from a marginal Labor seat on a 1.8 percent two-party margin to a marginal Liberal seat on a two percent two-party margin. However, as part of the massive Liberal victory in the 1949 election, the Liberals picked up a 9.3 percent two-party swing, turning it into a safe Liberal seat in one stroke. The Liberals have held the seat ever since, and for much of the next half-century it was a fairly safe to safe Liberal seat.

There was only one substantial redistribution in the past few decades, when Boothby absorbed parts of the abolished Division of Hawker prior to the 1993 election. This cut the Liberal margin by more than half, from a safe 10.7 two-party margin to a marginal notional 4.5 percent two-party margin. However, the Liberals won the seat on a fairly safe 7.8 percent two-party margin. As of 2007, Boothby extended from Mitcham and Belair in the east to Brighton and Seacliff in the west.^[2]

Boothby's most prominent members were Sir John McLeay, who was Speaker 1956-66, his son John, Jr., a minister in the Fraser government, and former state premier Steele Hall. Hall retired before at the 1996 election and the seat was held from 1996-2016 by Andrew Southcott.

At the 2004 election, despite a solid national two-party swing and vote to the Liberals, Boothby became a marginal Liberal seat for the first time in over half a century, with Labor's Chloë Fox reducing the Liberal margin to 5.4 percent even as incumbent Andrew Southcott narrowly won enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences. Labor's Nicole Cornes reduced Southcott's margin even further to 2.9 percent at the 2007 election. At the 2010 election Labor's Annabel Digance came within 638 votes of ending the long Liberal run in the seat. At 0.75 percent Boothby was the most marginal seat in South Australia. However, Boothby became a fairly safe Liberal seat again at the 2013 election.

In 2015, Southcott announced his retirement from parliament to take effect at the 2016 federal election. The Liberals preselected doctoral student and newspaper columnist Nicolle Flint.^[3] Labor preselected 2015 Davenport state by-election candidate Mark Ward.^[4] The Nick Xenophon Team announced Mitcham councillor Karen Hockley as their candidate.^[5] 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".^[6] Flint won the contest.^[7] Flint held on narrowly on 53.5 percent of the two-party vote on a swing of 3.6 percent, making the seat marginal once again.

A redistribution ahead of the 2019 federal election pared back the Liberal margin further, to 2.7 percent. This came even as Boothby absorbed Glenelg and much of the Holdfast Bay area from neighbouring Hindmarsh.^[8] Flint won reelection again, despite suffering a swing of 1.3 points. With a margin of 1.3 points, Boothby is the most marginal seat in South Australia, and one of the most marginal metropolitan Coalition seats in Australia.

On February 26 2021, Flint announced her retirement from parliament to take effect at the next Australian Federal Election. ^[9] The Liberals preselected Rachel Swift.^[10] Dr Swift's career included a decade in management consulting with the Boston Consulting Group and working in global health with both the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the United Nations Ebola Response.^[11] Earlier in her career, she worked as a medical researcher and is a Rhodes Scholar.^[12]

Members[]

	Image	Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Lee Batchelor (1865–1911)	Labour	16 December 1903 – 8 October 1911	Previously held the Division of South Australia. Served as minister under Watson and Fisher. Died in office
		David Gordon (1865–1946)	Commonwealth Liberal	11 November 1911 – 31 May 1913	Lost seat. Later elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1913
		George Dankel (1864–1926)	Labor	31 May 1913 – 14 November 1916	Previously held the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Torrens. Retired
			National Labor	14 November 1916 – 17 February 1917
			Nationalist	17 February 1917 – 26 March 1917
		William Story (1857–1924)	Nationalist	5 May 1917 – 16 December 1922	Previously a member of the Senate. Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Hughes. Lost seat
		Jack Duncan-Hughes (1882–1962)	Liberal Union	16 December 1922 – 1925	Lost seat. Later elected to the Senate in 1931
			Nationalist	1925 – 17 November 1928
		John Price (1882–1941)	Labor	17 November 1928 – March 1931	Previously held the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Port Adelaide. Served as Chief Government Whip in the House under Lyons. Died in office
			Independent	March 1931 – 7 May 1931
			United Australia	7 May 1931 – 23 April 1941
		Grenfell Price (1892–1977)	United Australia	24 May 1941 – 21 August 1943	Lost seat
		Thomas Sheehy (1899–1984)	Labor	21 August 1943 – 10 December 1949	Did not contest in 1949. Failed to win the Division of Kingston
		(Sir) John McLeay Sr. (1893–1982)	Liberal	10 December 1949 – 31 October 1966	Previously held the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Unley. Served as Speaker during the Menzies and Holt Governments. Retired. Son was John McLeay Jr.
		John McLeay Jr. (1922–2000)	Liberal	26 November 1966 – 22 January 1981	Served as minister under Fraser. Resigned in order to retire from politics. Father was John McLeay Sr.
		Steele Hall (1928–)	Liberal	21 February 1981 – 29 January 1996	Previously served as the Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. Previously a member of the Senate. Retired
		Andrew Southcott (1967–)	Liberal	2 March 1996 – 9 May 2016	Retired
		Nicolle Flint (1978–)	Liberal	2 July 2016 – present	Incumbent

Election results[]

See also[]

• 2016 Australian federal election
• Results of the Australian federal election, 2016 (South Australia)

References[]

• ABC profile for Boothby: 2016
• Poll Bludger profile for Boothby: 2016
• AEC profile for Boothby: 2016

Notes[]

External links[]

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

Coordinates: 35°00′43″S 138°35′46″E / 35.012°S 138.596°E / -35.012; 138.596