MacKillop – SA 2014

LIB 19.3% vs IND

Incumbent MP
Mitch Williams, since 1997.

Geography
South-eastern parts of South Australia. MacKillop stretches from the mouth of the Murray River to the border with the seat of Mount Gambier at the south-eastern corner of the state. The seat covers Bordertown, Naracoorte, Penola, Keith, Millicent and Tintinara.

Map of MacKillop's 2010 and 2014 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2014 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.
Map of MacKillop’s 2010 and 2014 boundaries. 2010 boundaries marked as red lines, 2014 boundaries marked as white area. Click to enlarge.

Redistribution
MacKillop gained territory from Mount Gambier on its southern boundary, to align the boundary with the Wattle Range council boundary, increasing the Liberal margin from 20.1% to 24.8%.

History
The electorate of MacKillop was created in 1993, as a renaming of the former seat of Victoria, which had existed continuously since 1965.

William Rodda won Victoria at the 1965 election for the Liberal and Country League, and held the seat until his retirement in 1985.

The Liberal Party’s Dale Baker won Victoria in 1985. Baker served as Liberal leader from 1990 to 1992, but didn’t lead the party to an election.

Baker was re-elected to the renamed seat of MacKillop in 1993, but four years later lost the seat to independent candidate Mitch Williams.

Williams joined the Liberal Party in 1999, and has been re-elected as a Liberal MP in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Williams served as Liberal Party deputy leader from 2010 to 2012.

Candidates
Sitting Liberal MP Mitch Williams is running for re-election. The Greens are running Donella Peters. Family First are running Bill Pomery.

Assessment
MacKillop is a very safe Liberal seat.

2010 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Mitch Williams LIB 12,267 60.9 +0.9
Darren O’Halloran IND 3,463 17.2 +17.2
Simone McDonnell ALP 2,497 12.4 -8.8
Jenene Childs FF 1,199 6.0 -1.0
Andrew Jennings GRN 718 3.6 -0.6

2010 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing
Mitch Williams LIB 14,112 70.1 -2.1
Darren O’Halloran IND 6,032 29.9 +2.1
Polling places in MacKillop at the 2010 state election. Central in orange, North in green, South in blue. Click to enlarge.
Polling places in MacKillop at the 2010 state election. Central in orange, North in green, South in blue. Click to enlarge.

Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and south. Polling places in Wattle Range council area have been grouped as ‘south’. Polling places in Coorong and Tatiara council areas have been grouped as ‘north’. Those in Kingston, Naracoorte Lucindale and Robe council areas have been grouped as ‘central’.

The second-polling candidate in the seat was the independent candidate, Darren O’Halloran, but no booth-level two-candidate-preferred count was conducted between O’Halloran and the Liberal Party. Primary votes in the below table show primary votes for the ALP, the Liberal Party, and those for O’Halloran, as well as for Mount Gambier independent MP Don Pegler in three booths in areas transferred from Mount Gambier to MacKillop by the recent redistribution.

The Liberal Party’s vote ranged from 45.4% in the south to 71.5% in the north, topping the primary vote in all areas. The independent candidates polled over 33% in the south, with 11.7% in the centre and 8% in the north.

The ALP came second in the centre and north, and third in the south, with a vote ranging from 10.3% in the north to 14% in the south.

Voter group LIB % IND % ALP % Total votes % of ordinary votes
South 45.39 33.45 13.97 6,526 37.71
Central 64.85 11.68 12.95 6,241 36.07
North 71.52 7.96 10.29 4,537 26.22
Other votes 64.21 13.04 11.97 3,750
Liberal primary votes in MacKillop at the 2010 state election.
Liberal primary votes in MacKillop at the 2010 state election.
Primary votes for independent candidate Darren O'Halloran in MacKillop at the 2010 state election.
Primary votes for independent candidate Darren O’Halloran in MacKillop at the 2010 state election.
Labor primary votes in MacKillop at the 2010 state election.
Labor primary votes in MacKillop at the 2010 state election.

2 COMMENTS

  1. was part of an ALP seat about 40 years ago…….that time has now long passed and the seat has
    expanded into the north with time

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