MacKillop – SA 2014

LIB 19.3% vs IND

Incumbent MP
Mitch Williams, since 1997.

Geography
South-eastern parts of South Australia. MacKillop stretches from the mouth of the Murray River to the border with the seat of Mount Gambier at the south-eastern corner of the state. The seat covers Bordertown, Naracoorte, Penola, Keith, Millicent and Tintinara.

Redistribution
MacKillop gained territory from Mount Gambier on its southern boundary, to align the boundary with the Wattle Range council boundary, increasing the Liberal margin from 20.1% to 24.8%.

History
The electorate of MacKillop was created in 1993, as a renaming of the former seat of Victoria, which had existed continuously since 1965.

William Rodda won Victoria at the 1965 election for the Liberal and Country League, and held the seat until his retirement in 1985.

The Liberal Party’s Dale Baker won Victoria in 1985. Baker served as Liberal leader from 1990 to 1992, but didn’t lead the party to an election.

Baker was re-elected to the renamed seat of MacKillop in 1993, but four years later lost the seat to independent candidate Mitch Williams.

Williams joined the Liberal Party in 1999, and has been re-elected as a Liberal MP in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Williams served as Liberal Party deputy leader from 2010 to 2012.

Candidates
Sitting Liberal MP Mitch Williams is running for re-election. The Greens are running Donella Peters. Family First are running Bill Pomery.

• Steve Davies (Independent)
• Mitch Williams (Liberal)
• Donella Peters (Greens)
• Terry Soulmatis (Labor)
• Bill Pomery (Family First)

Assessment
MacKillop is a very safe Liberal seat.

2010 result

2010 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown
Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and south. Polling places in Wattle Range council area have been grouped as ‘south’. Polling places in Coorong and Tatiara council areas have been grouped as ‘north’. Those in Kingston, Naracoorte Lucindale and Robe council areas have been grouped as ‘central’.

The second-polling candidate in the seat was the independent candidate, Darren O’Halloran, but no booth-level two-candidate-preferred count was conducted between O’Halloran and the Liberal Party. Primary votes in the below table show primary votes for the ALP, the Liberal Party, and those for O’Halloran, as well as for Mount Gambier independent MP Don Pegler in three booths in areas transferred from Mount Gambier to MacKillop by the recent redistribution.

The Liberal Party’s vote ranged from 45.4% in the south to 71.5% in the north, topping the primary vote in all areas. The independent candidates polled over 33% in the south, with 11.7% in the centre and 8% in the north.

The ALP came second in the centre and north, and third in the south, with a vote ranging from 10.3% in the north to 14% in the south.