Finniss – SA 2022

LIB 14.4%

Incumbent MP
David Basham, since 2018.

Geography
Regional South Australia. Finniss covers an area to the south of Adelaide, including Victor Harbor, Goolwa, Port Elliot, Mount Compass, Finniss, Milang and the Hindmarsh Valley.

Redistribution
Finniss maintained all of its existing territory and expanded east to Lake Alexandrina, taking in Milang from Hammond. These changes increased the Liberal margin from 14.2% to 14.4%.

History
The electoral district of Finniss has existed since the 1993 election, and has always been held by the Liberal Party.

Finnis was first won in 1993 by Dean Brown, who led the Liberal Party to the election and became Premier following the Liberal Party’s landslide victory at the election.

Brown had previously held the seat of Davenport from 1973 until 1985, when a redistribution saw Brown compete with a fellow Liberal MP for preselection. Brown won the preselection, but lost to his rival at the general election.

Brown returned to Parliament in 1992 at the Alexandra by-election, triggered by the resignation of Ted Chapman, who had held that seat since 1973.

Brown’s rival John Olsen, who had defeated him for the Liberal leadership in 1982, also returned to Parliament at a by-election in 1992, and Brown defeated Olsen in a race for the Liberal Party leadership.

Brown served as Premier from 1993 until his deposition by Olsen in 1996. He later served as Deputy Premier from 2001 to 2002, and then as Deputy Leader of the Opposition until 2005, retiring in 2006. Brown had won three terms as Member for Finniss.

Finniss was won in 2006 by Michael Pengilly, a former mayor of Kangaroo Island. Pengilly was re-elected in 2010 and 2014, and retired in 2018.

Liberal candidate David Basham won Finniss in 2018.

Candidates

Assessment
Finniss is a safe Liberal seat.

2018 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
David Basham Liberal 9,319 43.6 -8.6 43.4
Joe Hill SA-Best 5,515 25.8 +25.8 26.3
Russell Skinner Labor 3,648 17.1 -7.5 16.8
Marc Mullette Greens 1,670 7.8 -4.3 7.7
Bruce Hicks Australian Christians 1,207 5.7 -4.9 5.7
Informal 626 2.8

2018 two-candidate-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
David Basham Liberal 11,669 54.6 -8.5 54.3
Joe Hill SA-Best 9,690 45.4 +45.4 45.7

2018 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
David Basham Liberal 13,718 64.2 +1.1 64.4
Russell Skinner Labor 7,641 35.8 -1.1 35.6

Booth breakdown

Booths in Finniss have been divided into three areas: Goolwa (including booths further to the east), Victor Harbour and the centre.

The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 62% in the centre to 62.9% in Goolwa.

SA-Best came second, with a primary vote ranging from 23.9% in the centre to 28.8% in Goolwa.

Voter group SAB prim % LIB 2PP % Total votes % of votes
Goolwa 28.8 62.9 5,027 22.6
Victor Harbour 24.8 62.8 3,807 17.1
Central 23.9 62.0 2,822 12.7
Other votes 26.2 66.4 10,633 47.7

Election results in Finniss at the 2018 South Australian state election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Liberal vs SA-Best), two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal Party, SA-Best and Labor.

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