Electoral district of Heysen

Heysen is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after Sir Hans Heysen, a prominent South Australian landscape artist. It is a 1,074 km2 electoral district that takes in some of the outer southern suburbs of Adelaide before fanning south-east to include most of the Adelaide Hills, as well as farming areas some distance from the capital. It includes the localities of Aldgate, Ashbourne, Belvidere, Biggs Flat, Blackfellows Creek, Blewitt Springs, Bradbury, Bridgewater, Bugle Ranges, Bull Creek, Chapel Hill, Clarendon, Crafers, Dingabledinga, Dorset Vale, Echunga, Flaxley, Gemmells, Green Hills Range, Heathfield, Highland Valley, Hope Forest, Ironbank, Jupiter Creek, Kangarilla, Kuitpo, Kuitpo Colony, Kyeema, Longwood, Macclesfield, McHarg Creek, Meadows, Montarra, Mount Magnificent, Mylor, Paris Creek, Prospect Hill, Red Creek, Salem, Sandergrove, Scott Creek, Stirling, Strathalbyn, The Range, Willunga Hill, Willyaroo, Wistow, Woodchester, Yundi; as well as parts of Bletchley, Hartley, Onkaparinga Hills, Upper Sturt. Although geographically it is a hybrid urban-rural seat, it is counted as a metropolitan seat.

Heysen
South AustraliaHouse of Assembly
Map of South Australia with electoral district of Heysen highlighted
Electoral district of Heysen (green) in South Australia
StateSouth Australia
Dates current1970–1977, 1985–present
MPJosh Teague
PartyLiberal Party of Australia (SA)
NamesakeSir Hans Heysen
Electors25,026 (2018)
Area1,074.3 km2 (414.8 sq mi)
DemographicMetropolitan
Coordinates35°11′12″S 138°48′38″E / 35.18667°S 138.81056°E / -35.18667; 138.81056
Electorates around Heysen:
Bragg Morialta
Kavel
Hammond
Waite Davenport Hurtle Vale Kaurna Heysen Hammond
Mawson Finniss Hammond
Footnotes
Electoral District map[1]

As Heysen combines both wealthier suburbs in the foothills of the Adelaide Hills and rural areas further east, it has been held by the Liberal Party and its predecessor, the Liberal and Country League, ever since its creation in the electoral redistribution of 1969 as a replacement for Stirling. For most of that time, it has been a fairly safe to safe seat for the conservatives. It was first contested at the 1970 election. It was abolished at the 1977 election, forcing then-member David Wotton to move to the seat of Murray. However, Wotton returned to Heysen when it was re-established at the 1985 election. He subsequently held the seat until his retirement in 2002, when he was replaced by former opposition leader Isobel Redmond. Redmond retired at the 2018 election and was replaced by Josh Teague.

The 1997 election saw the Democrats receive 47.9 percent of the two-candidate preferred vote, the closest they had ever come to a seat any Australian lower house (apart from the South Australian seat of Mitcham). The 2002 election saw the Democrats receive 46 percent of the two-candidate preferred vote. The 2006 election saw their vote collapse with Labor being brought back into the two-candidate race. That election saw the seat turn marginal against Labor for the first time ever; the Liberals were cut down to 53 percent of the two-party vote. Out of 47 lower house seats, the SA Greens have consistently polled strongest in Heysen. Greens candidate Lynton Vonow came within a few percent of winning the overlapping federal seat of Mayo at the 2008 by-election. Vonow contested Heysen for the Greens at the 2014 election and overtook the Labor candidate coming second after preferences with a 39 percent two-candidate preferred vote from a 19.7 percent primary vote. The Greens also polled well in neighbouring seats such as Kavel and Davenport with primary votes over 15 percent. The 2018 election saw Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST receive 48.2 percent of the two-candidate preferred vote in Heysen which was the closest they came to winning a lower house seat.

At the 2022 state election, the Liberals fell to only 51 percent of the two-party vote amid their statewide collapse, only the second time the seat had been marginal against Labor.

Members for Heysen

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First incarnation (1970–1977)
Member Party Term
  William McAnaney Liberal and Country 1970–1974
  Liberal 1974–1975
  David Wotton Liberal 1975–1977
Second incarnation (1985–present)
Member Party Term
  David Wotton Liberal 1985–2002
  Isobel Redmond Liberal 2002–2018
  Josh Teague Liberal 2018–present

Election results

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2022 South Australian state election: Heysen
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Josh Teague 10,336 43.3 +3.0
Labor Rowan Voogt 6,410 26.9 +8.0
Greens Lynton Vonow 4,937 20.7 +8.7
One Nation Alexander Allwood 1,159 4.9 +4.9
Family First Belinda Nikitins 1,008 4.2 +4.2
Total formal votes 23,850 98.0
Informal votes 494 2.0
Turnout 24,344 93.5
Two-party-preferred result
Liberal Josh Teague 12,377 51.9 −5.7
Labor Rowan Voogt 11,473 48.1 +5.7
Liberal hold Swing −5.7

Notes

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  1. ^ Electoral District of Heysen (Map). Electoral Commission of South Australia. 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.[permanent dead link]

References

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