LIB 4.4%

Incumbent MP
Rowan Ramsey, since 2007.

Geography
Grey covers the vast majority of the geographical expanse of South Australia. Grey covers South Australia’s borders with Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. It covers most of the coast of South Australia, including everything west of the Yorke Peninsula. Main towns include Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Whyalla, Coober Pedy and Roxby Downs.

History
Grey is an original electorate, having been created in 1903. The seat was first won by the ALP’s Alexander Poynton, who had been elected as a Free Trade MP in 1901, when South Australia elected its parliamentary delegation at large.

Poynton strongly supported conscription and followed Billy Hughes into the Nationalist Party in 1916.

Poynton was defeated by Andrew Lacey in 1922. Lacey held the seat until his defeat by Philip McBride (UAP) in 1931. Lacey went on to win a seat in the South Australian House of Assembly in 1933 and became Leader of the Opposition until 1938.

McBride held Grey for the UAP from 1931 until 1937, when he made a swap with Country Party senator Albert Badman, with Badman winning Grey and McBride taking Badman’s seat in the Senate. McBride held the Senate seat until his defeat in 1943, and then served as Member for Wakefield from 1946 to 1958, serving as a minister in the Menzies government.

Badman held the seat of Grey until 1943, effectively serving as a member of the UAP for his final years after the collapse of the Country Party in South Australia.

In 1943, Badman was defeated by Edgar Russell (ALP). Russell began a 50-year period of the ALP holding Grey except for a single election, and he served as a backbencher until his death in 1963. Jack Mortimer won the seat for the ALP in 1963, but was defeated by Liberal Don Jessop in 1966. Jessop only held the seat for one term, losing to Laurie Wallis in 1969. Jessop then won a seat in the Senate in 1970 and served there until 1987.

Wallis held Grey from 1969 to 1983, when he retired. He was succeeded by Lloyd O’Neil, who held the seat for the ALP from 1983 until his retirement in 1993.

The redistribution before the 1993 had expanded Grey to include rural areas to the west of Port Pirie and Port Augusta, after the seat had been limited to the immediate coastal strip for decades. This improved the position of the Liberal Party, and Barry Wakelin won the seat off the ALP at the 1993 election.

Wakelin held the seat until 2007, when he retired and was succeeded by Rowan Ramsey.

Candidates
No information on candidates.

Political situation
The influence of Labor-voting towns has waned in Grey, yet it is not wise to ignore the recent history of the ALP holding this seat. The huge swing to the ALP in 2007 puts this seat in the marginal column, but after three years in Parliament Ramsey should have strengthened his position, making it hard for the ALP to manage the remaining 4.4% swing needed to win.

2007 result

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

Booth breakdown
Due to the large number of local government areas in Grey, I have divided booths into groups of LGAs. Also note that the vast majority of the land covered by Grey has no local government, except for the isolated LGAs of Coober Pedy and Roxby Downs.

• Port Lincoln – Port Lincoln, Lower Eyre Peninsula, Tumby Bay
• Whyalla – Whyalla
• Central – Barunga West, Copper Coast, Wakefield
• Port Pirie – Port Pirie
• Yorke Peninsula – Yorke Peninsula
• West Coast – Cleve, Ceduna, Elliston, Franklin Harbour, Kimba, Le Hunte, Streaky Bay
• Port Augusta – Port Augusta
• East – Goyder, Northern Areas, Peterborough
• Outback – Coober Pedy, Roxby Downs, Unincorporated areas
• North-East – Flinders Ranges, Mount Remarkable, Orroroo Carrieton

The ALP won majorities in the major towns of Whyalla, Port Pirie and Port Augusta, and won a slim majority in the Outback. Outside of these areas the ALP only won four booths: both booths in Wallaroo, one booth in Port Lincoln and the Peterborough booth.

Polling booths in Grey. West Coast in brown, Port Lincoln in yellow, Outback in purple, Whyalla in light green, Port Augusta in dark blue, North-East in red, East in orange, Port Pirie in yellow, Central in bright green, Yorke Peninsula in light blue.

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election.

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election in Port Lincoln.

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election in Whyalla.

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election in Port Augusta.

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election around Yorke Peninsula

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election in rural areas around Port Pirie.

Polling booths in Grey, showing results of the 2007 election in Port Pirie.