Wakefield – Election 2010

ALP 6.6%

Incumbent MP
Nick Champion, since 2007.

Geography
Northern fringe of Adelaide and rural areas further north. Wakefield covers the towns of Elizabeth and Gawler on the northern outskirts of Adelaide. It also covers the rural Clare and Gilbert Valleys, Light and Mallala LGAs, and half of Wakefield council area, extending as far north as the towns of Clare and Balaklava.

History
Wakefield is an original South Australian electorate, having been created in 1903 at the first election with single-member electorates in South Australia. The seat has almost always been held by conservative parties. The ALP has only won the seat three times: at a 1938 by-election, at the 1943 landslide, and at the 2007 election.

The seat was first won in 1903 by Frederick Holder. Holder had previously been Premier of South Australia and had won an at-large seat in the House of Representatives in 1901 and had been elected as the first Speaker of the House of Representatives. Holder served as an independent and as Speaker up until July 1909, when he died while presiding over a raucous session of the House of Representatives.

The ensuing by-election was won by the Commonwealth Liberal Party’s Richard Foster, who had previously served as a minister in state governments before losing his seat in 1906. Foster held the seat continuously until the 1928 election, when he was defeated by Country Party candidate Maurice Collins. Collins was defeated at the 1929 election, and the party has never won Wakefield since.

The seat was won in 1929 by Nationalist Charles Hawker, who went on to serve as a minister in Joseph Lyons’ first government before resigning from the ministry in protest against high ministerial salaries during the Depression. Hawker died in a plane crash in 1938.

The ALP’s Sidney McHugh won the seat in the following by-election. McHugh was a former state MP, and lost the seat to UAP candidate John Duncan-Hughes in 1940 before returning to state politics. Duncan-Hughes had previously held the seat of Boothby before losing it in 1928, and then had served as a UAP Senator from 1932 to 1938.

Duncan-Hughes lost to ALP candidate Albert Smith in 1943. Smith was defeated by Philip McBride (LIB) in 1946. McBride had previously held the seat of Grey and then served in the Senate, and had served in Menzies’ first ministry while in the Senate.

McBride served as a minister when the Liberal Party gained power in 1949, first as Minister for the Interior and then as Minister for Defence from 1950 until his retirement in 1958.

Bert Kelly won the seat in 1958, and was a prominent proponent of free trade at a time when it was a minority view. He served as a minister from 1967 until 1969 but his advancement was limited by his free trade advocacy.

The redistribution before the 1977 election abolished the seat of Angas and the sitting member for Angas, Geoffrey Giles, challenged Kelly for Liberal preselection and won Wakefield. Giles had held Angas since 1964, when he won a by-election triggered by the death of Alexander Downer Sr.

Giles retired in 1983, and was succeeded by Neil Andrew. Andrew had a largely undistinguished career until after the 1998 election, when he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.

A redistribution before the 2004 election made Wakefield a notional Labor seat, and Andrew retired. Despite the unfavourable redistribution the Liberal Party’s David Fawcett retained the seat. Fawcett held the seat for one term before losing it to the ALP’s Nick Champion in 2007.

Candidates

• Jane Alcorn (Greens) – Light councillor.
• Nick Champion (Labor) – Member for Wakefield since 2007.
• David Strauss (Liberal)
• Darren Hassan (Democrats)
• Paul Coombie (Family First)

Political situation
The ALP is likely to hold the seat as it is currently drawn, although large swings at recent elections suggest this seat will remain vulnerable for the near future.

2007 result

2007 two-candidate-preferred result

Booth breakdown
Wakefield covers parts of seven local government areas. A very large proportion of the population lives in Playford LGA, which covers parts of Elizabeth, with the next two largest LGAs being the neighbouring LGAs of Salisbury and Gawler. The population of the northern LGAs was much smaller. The ALP won a large majority in both Playford and Salisbury, winning almost 70% in the Salisbury area. The Liberal Party won in the other areas, although the margin in Gawler was very slim.

Family First outpolled the Greens in Wakefield in 2007. Family First polled best in Playford and Salisbury, while the Greens outpolled Family First in Gawler, Light and Clare & Gilbert Valleys.