ALP 4.0%
Incumbent MP
Catherine Hutchesson, since 2022.
Geography
Southern Adelaide. Waite covers the suburbs of Bellevue Heights, Brown Hill Creek, Clapham, Hawthorn, Kingswood, Lower Mitcham, Lynton, Mitcham, Pasadena, Springfield, St Marys, Torrens Park, Westbourne Park as well as parts of Belair, Daw Park, Leawood Gardens and Panorama. Most of the electorate is contained within the Mitcham council area.
History
The electorate of Waite has existed since 1993, when it mostly replaced the abolished district of Mitcham.
Mitcham had existed since 1938. The seat was held by Robin Millhouse from 1955, originally from the Liberal and Country League. He left the LCL in 1973 to join the Liberal Movement, and eventually served as the first Democrats member of Parliament from 1977 to 1982.
The 1982 Mitcham by-election was won by the Democrats’ Heather Southcott, but she lost the seat later that year at the general election to the Liberal Party’s Stephen Baker.
Baker held Mitcham until 1993, and then the renamed seat of Waite at the 1993 election. Baker served as Treasurer and Deputy Premier in the Brown government from 1993 until 1996, when both Brown and Baker were deposed from the Liberal Party leadership. Baker announced his retirement in late 1996, stepping down at the 1997 state election.
Martin Hamilton-Smith has held Waite since 1997. Hamilton-Smith led the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2009, and briefly served as deputy leader in 2010. Hamilton-Smith came within one vote of winning the leadership back in 2012, and was re-elected as a Liberal in 2014.
Hamilton-Smith resigned from the Liberal Party later in 2014 to sit as an independent, while also taking a ministry in the Labor minority government.
Hamilton-Smith retired in 2018. The redistribution moved a large part of Davenport into Waite, and Liberal MP Sam Duluk, who had won Davenport in 2015, shifted to Waite. Duluk resigned from the Liberal Party in 2020 over allegations of assault.
Duluk recontested Waite in 2022 as an independent, but came fourth with just under 15%. Labor’s Catherine Hutchesson was elected with a swing of over 11%.
- Declan Brumfield (Greens)
- Catherine Hutchesson (Labor)
- Frank Pangallo (Liberal)
Assessment
Waite is a marginal Labor seat, but the ALP should have no trouble retaining the seat in 2026.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Catherine Hutchesson | Labor | 6,698 | 26.6 | +2.5 |
| Alexander Hyde | Liberal | 6,509 | 25.9 | -18.7 |
| Sam Duluk | Independent | 4,949 | 19.7 | +19.7 |
| Heather Holmes-Ross | Independent | 3,665 | 14.6 | +14.6 |
| Brendan White | Greens | 2,872 | 11.4 | +0.9 |
| Ben Freeling | Animal Justice | 482 | 1.9 | +1.9 |
| Informal | 607 | 2.4 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Catherine Hutchesson | Labor | 13,597 | 54.0 | +11.4 |
| Alexander Hyde | Liberal | 11,578 | 46.0 | -11.4 |
Booths have been divided into three parts: north, south-east and south-west.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 54.1% in the north to 57.4% in the south-west.
The two independents had a vote ranging from 28.9% in the north to 38.5% in the south-east.
| Voter group | GRN prim | IND prim | ALP 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 12.6 | 28.9 | 54.1 | 6,516 | 25.9 |
| South-East | 11.0 | 38.5 | 55.9 | 6,048 | 24.0 |
| South-West | 12.5 | 36.6 | 57.4 | 3,947 | 15.7 |
| Other votes | 10.3 | 34.2 | 51.1 | 8,664 | 34.4 |
Election results in Waite at the 2022 South Australian state election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party, two different independent candidates and the Greens.
Current independent MLC Frank Pangallo will move to the Liberal party and has been announced as their candidate for Waite in 2026.
@James good luck to him but it’s going to be a mountain to climb. It’s an inner city seat that’s painted red all over it and in a Labor landslide year no one seriously expects Waite to be in play.
Pangallo’s record is being a centrist, moderate independent, which is the furthest thing from the SA Liberal party at the moment. If he wanted to be successful he might as well run as an independent and he’d have a better chance.
I think that if Frank Pangallo wanted to stay parliament, he should’ve run as an independent for the LC or sought preselection for the Liberal LC ticket.
Agree Tommo, Frank Pangello during his previous stint as an MLC representing Nick Xenophon’s SA BEST party was seen as a centrist/moderate and he would be a good fit to run as a teal independent for Waite.
Not sure if former Liberal and then Independent MP for this seat Martin Hamilton Smith was also a moderate, ‘wet’ faction Liberal. He was quite hostile to the hardcore conservative faction of the Liberals and whilst his decision to step down from the Liberals and become a Labor supporting Independent was partly strategic on his part, it also had to do with his personal views more aligning with Labor rather than the Liberals.