LIB 16.6%
Incumbent MP
Tony Pasin, since 2013.
Geography
Barker covers southeastern parts of South Australia. It stretches from Mount Gambier in the southeastern corner of the state up to the Murray River and the Barossa Valley.
History
The seat of Barker was first created for the 1903 election, and has been a seat that has consistently voted for Conservative parties. Apart from two terms of the Country Party, the seat has been held by the main non-Labor party since its creation.
It was first won in 1903 by John Langdon Bonython, a Protectionist MP first elected as a member for South Australia at-large in 1901. Bonython retired in 1906 and was replaced by Anti-Socialist candidate John Livingston. Livingston held the seat as a member of the Liberal Party and Nationalist Party before his retirement in 1922.
The seat was won in 1922 by Malcolm Cameron, who was elected as a member of the breakaway Liberal Party, who opposed the leadership of Billy Hughes, but returned to the Nationalists after Hughes deposition. He held the seat until 1934.
The seat was won in 1934 by the Country Party’s Archie Cameron. He served as a minister in the Lyons government from 1937 until Lyons’ death in 1939. After Earle Page refused to serve in government with Robert Menzies, the Country Party replaced Page with Cameron as their leader, and Cameron led the party back into government.
Cameron, however, was replaced by Arthur Fadden as Country Party leader in 1940, and Cameron resigned from the Country Party and joined the United Australia Party. Cameron joined Menzies’ new Liberal Party in 1945 and was elected Speaker of the House in 1949. Cameron remained Speaker and Member for Barker until his death in 1956.
The ensuing by-election was won by Liberal candidate Jim Forbes. He served as a minister in the Liberal government from 1963 until the election of the Whitlam government in 1972.
Forbes retired at the 1975 election, and was replaced by James Porter, who held the seat for fifteen years. He was replaced in 1990 by Ian McLachlan, a former president of the National Farmers Federation. McLachlan served as Minister for Defence for the first term of the Howard government, retiring in 1998.
The seat was won in 1998 by the Liberal Party’s Patrick Secker. He held Barker for the next five terms, retiring in 2013.
Liberal candidate Tony Pasin won Barker in 2013, and has been re-elected three times.
- Tony Pasin (Liberal)
- Ian Penno (Independent)
- Tracey Pfitzner (Trumpet of Patriots)
- Jonathan Pietzsch (Nationals)
- Cody Scholes (Independent)
Assessment
Barker is a safe Liberal seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Tony Pasin | Liberal | 56,330 | 53.2 | -4.6 |
| Mark Braes | Labor | 22,054 | 20.8 | -0.2 |
| Rosa Hillam | Greens | 7,841 | 7.4 | +0.6 |
| Carlos Quaremba | One Nation | 6,958 | 6.6 | +6.6 |
| David Swiggs | United Australia | 4,222 | 4.0 | -1.9 |
| Maddy Fry | Independent | 3,190 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Jonathan Pietzsch | National Party | 2,531 | 2.4 | -0.3 |
| Vince Pannell | Independent | 1,913 | 1.8 | +1.8 |
| Kym Hanton | Federation Party | 760 | 0.7 | +0.7 |
| Informal | 7,909 | 7.0 | +1.4 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Tony Pasin | Liberal | 70,483 | 66.6 | -2.3 |
| Mark Braes | Labor | 35,316 | 33.4 | +2.3 |
Booths have been divided into five areas. Polling places in the southern city of Mount Gambier have been grouped together. The remainder of the seat has been split into four strips that stretch across the electorate. From north to south, these are North, Murray Mallee, Upper South East and Lower South East.
The Liberal Party won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all five areas, ranging from 57.5% in Mount Gambier to 77.6% in the upper south-east.
| Voter group | LIB 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 64.4 | 27,287 | 25.8 |
| Lower South-East | 67.6 | 8,811 | 8.3 |
| Murray Mallee | 65.8 | 8,258 | 7.8 |
| Upper South-East | 77.6 | 7,025 | 6.6 |
| Mount Gambier | 57.5 | 5,616 | 5.3 |
| Pre-poll | 67.3 | 32,815 | 31.0 |
| Other votes | 67.3 | 15,987 | 15.1 |
Election results in Barker at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for the Liberal Party and Labor.
Rumours that Flint wants to make a return to federal politics running in Barker where she now lives in the state seat of Mackillop, but after such a public exit its doubtful. Current member for Mackillop resigned from LIB but first preference is very high so a Flint challenge would likely go array.
Nicolle Flint will run for Boothby again. This rules her out of this seat.
@Votante I don’t think they were ever going to remove Tony Pasin from this seat given how safe it is and that he’s actually a resident of this electorate. Flint’s family might have some sort of history here but she’ll forever be known as the Boothby MP who’s desperately trying to get back to parliament.
Liberal hold for sure given that this seat would probably still vote Liberal if they instilled a wooden sculpture as its candidate.
This is the safest Liberal seat after all (not including Nat or LNP seats) and the safest Coalition seat west of the eastern states.
@Tommo9, I agree that Flint is linked with Boothby and if she wins nomination in Barker, she’d be a parachuted candidate.
The most important information that is needed is who will the smaller parties and independants give their references to.
Actually it’s how their voters mark their preferences – for some of those smaller parties their voters may not even see a HTV.
Anyone got any information about the Trumpet of Patriots candidate that is according to Wikipedia here?