ALP 16.4%
Incumbent MP
Amanda Rishworth, since 2007.
Geography
Kingston covers the southern fringe of Adelaide and coastal suburbs to the south of South Australia’s capital, including Aldinga and Noarlunga. The seat covers a majority of Onkaparinga LGA and part of Marion LGA.
History
Kingston was first created in 1949, and in its seventy-year history has been a classical marginal seat regularly changing hands. The seat has been represented by ten MPs in the last seventy years, and every former Member for Kingston lost the seat at an election to the opposing major party. The seat has become much stronger for Labor over the last decade.
The seat was first won in 1949 by former SANFL football player Jim Handby for the Liberal Party. Patrick Galvin of the ALP won the seat in 1951 off Handby and held it for the next fifteen years. Galvin was himself defeated by Kay Brownbill of the Liberal Party in 1966.
Brownbill was defeated in 1969 by Labor’s Richard Gun. The party of government held Kingston from the 1972 election until 1998, with Gun winning re-election in 1972 and 1974.
Grant Chapman won the seat off Gun in 1975, and held the seat for the entirety of the Fraser government. Following his defeat in 1983 he went on to become a Senator for South Australia from 1987 until 2007.
Chapman was defeated in 1983 by Gordon Bliney of the ALP, who went on to serve as a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. The seat was home to a challenge by Democrats leader Janine Haines in 1990, when she attempted to move to the House of Representatives. She polled over a quarter of the vote but failed to outpoll either major party. Bliney was defeated by Susan Jeanes in 1996, and Jeanes herself was defeated in 1998 before seeking a career in state politics, where she challenged Bob Such for preselection in Fisher, and Such was re-elected as an independent.
David Cox won the seat for the ALP in 1998 and held it until 2004, during which time he served on the Opposition frontbench. He was defeated in 2004 by former police officer Kym Richardson. Richardson was defeated in 2007 by Labor’s Amanda Rishworth, and Rishworth has been re-elected five times.
- Russell Jackson (Trumpet of Patriots)
- John Photakis (Greens)
- Steve Price (Family First)
- Amanda Rishworth (Labor)
- Jim Rishworth (Liberal)
- Nathan Skrlj (One Nation)
Assessment
Kingston is a safe Labor seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Amanda Rishworth | Labor | 53,810 | 49.2 | -1.4 |
| Kathleen Bourne | Liberal | 28,273 | 25.9 | -5.9 |
| John Photakis | Greens | 13,603 | 12.4 | +3.2 |
| Robert Godfrey-Brown | One Nation | 5,313 | 4.9 | +4.9 |
| Russell Jackson | United Australia | 4,321 | 4.0 | -1.0 |
| Rob De Jonge | Independent | 2,963 | 2.7 | +2.7 |
| Sam Enright | Federation Party | 1,079 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Informal | 4,336 | 3.8 | -0.3 |
2022 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Amanda Rishworth | Labor | 72,564 | 66.4 | +4.4 |
| Kathleen Bourne | Liberal | 36,798 | 33.6 | -4.4 |
Booths have been divided into three parts: central, north and south.
The ALP won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in all three areas, ranging from 65% in the north to 74.5% in the centre.
The Greens came third, with a primary vote ranging from 13.8% in the north to 15.3% in the south.
| Voter group | GRN prim | ALP 2PP | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 13.8 | 65.0 | 29,905 | 27.3 |
| Central | 14.8 | 74.5 | 14,501 | 13.3 |
| South | 15.3 | 72.0 | 8,029 | 7.3 |
| Pre-poll | 10.5 | 64.7 | 33,926 | 31.0 |
| Other votes | 11.1 | 63.4 | 23,001 | 21.0 |
Election results in Kingston at the 2022 federal election
Toggle between two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.
This seat had SA’s largest election-day booth at Flagstaff Hill Primary School, with 2752 votes cast.
Fun fact on 2021 Census results this is the most irreligious seat in the country with 54.60% having no religion. The most religious seat in the country is Werriwa where that is only 13.10%
@Nimalan despite being within the “City of Churches”.
@ Nether Portal
I think it is mainly due to it being an Anglo Area. The Tasmanian seats are also very irreligious Braddon more than Clark despite Braddon trending right wing and Clark more socially progressive.
Furthermore, Wentwoth and Goldstein have a lower % of people with no religion than Longman or Gippsland. That can be explained by the former having signficant Jewish community and to a lesser extent in Goldstein a Greek community. Fairfax is the most irreligious seat in Queensland more than the Teal seats.
The Liberals have preselected Amanda Rishworth’s cousin, Jim Rishworth, as their candidate here. Probably one of the few times I’ve seen family members from opposing parties contest the same seat at the same election before.
It’s a way to increase the chances of their family holding the seat.
The whole of Kingston could nominate Amanda would still win
I’m sure there’ll be voter confusion just as how there was a mixup between the Liberals and Liberal Democrats elsewhere in the past. Because it’s a safe Labor seat, Amanda Rishworth’s primary vote is more likely to take a hit unless her name is at the top or well ahead of her cousin on the ballot.