GIles – SA 2026

ALP 17.3%

Incumbent MP
Eddie Hughes, since 2014.

Geography
Western parts of South Australia. Giles covers the towns of Whyalla and Port Augusta and surrounding areas.

Redistribution
Giles took in the eastern half of Port Augusta from Stuart, and lost outback parts of the seat including Coober Pedy, Roxby Downs and Woomera to Stuart. These changes cut the Labor margin from 21% to 17.3%.

History
The electorate of Giles has existed since 1993, when it replaced the former electorate of Whyalla, which had existed since 1956. Both electorates were always held by the ALP.

Frank Blevins was the third Labor MP to represent Whyalla when he was elected in 1985. Blevins served as a minister, and rose to the position of Deputy Premier from 1992 to 1993. In 1993, he ran for the reconstituted seat of Giles.

Blevins retired in 1997, and Lyn Breuer won Giles, again for the ALP. Breuer won re-election in 2002, 2006 and 2010. She served as Speaker of the House of Assembly from 2010 to 2013.

Breuer retired in 2014, and Labor’s Eddie Hughes won Giles. Hughes was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.

Candidates

Assessment
Giles is a safe Labor seat.

2022 result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Eddie Hughes Labor 11,285 58.0 +10.1 51.0
Graham Taylor Liberal 3,460 17.8 -2.5 18.5
Tom Antonio SA-BEST 2,171 11.2 -11.9 9.1
Barry Drage One Nation 1,236 6.4 +6.4 5.7
Jane Mount Greens 753 3.9 -0.2 3.8
John McComb Family First 536 2.8 +2.8 1.9
Others 9.9
Informal 725 3.6

2022 two-party-preferred result

Candidate Party Votes % Swing Redist
Eddie Hughes Labor 13,798 71.0 +6.1 67.3
Graham Taylor Liberal 5,643 29.0 -6.1 32.7

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into four parts. Whyalla has been split between east and west. Port Augusta has been grouped together, with the remaining booths grouped as “rural”.

Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in in Whyalla, with 74.8% in the east and 78.5% in the west. Large parts of Port Augusta were previously in Stuart, where the 2CP was between independent MP Geoff Brock and the Liberal Party. The combined Labor/independent 2CP in Port Augusta was 65.3%. The Liberal 2CP in the remainder of the seat was 51.6%.

Geoff Brock polled 22.5% across Port Augusta, although this included parts previously contained in Giles where he wasn’t on the ballot. SA-BEST polled 12-14% in Whyalla. They polled 2.4% in Port Augusta, but were only on the ballot in Giles, which only made up less than half of the city in 2022.

Voter group SAB prim IND prim ALP 2PP Total votes % of votes
Whyalla West 13.8 0.0 78.5 5,156 23.7
Port Augusta 2.4 22.5 65.3 2,730 12.5
Whyalla East 12.0 0.0 74.8 1,731 7.9
Rural 5.4 0.0 48.4 723 3.3
Other votes 8.4 13.8 48.4 10,668 49.0

Election results in Giles at the 2022 South Australian state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party, independent candidates and SA-Best.

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