LIB 3.2%
Incumbent MP
David Speirs, member for Bright since 2014.
Geography
Southern Adelaide. Gibson covers the suburbs of Brighton, Hove, Warradale, Dover Gardens and Seacombe Gardens.
Redistribution
Gibson was created out of northern parts of Bright and Mitchell, as well as south-western parts of Elder and a small part of Morphett.
History
Gibson is primarily a replacement for the seat of Bright, which has existed since the 1985 election. The seat was won by Labor at the 1985 election, and was then held by the Liberal Party from 1989 to 2006. Labor held the seat for terms before losing in 2014.
Derek Robertson won the seat for the ALP in 1985.
In 1989, the seat was won by the Liberal Party’s Wayne Matthew. Matthew served as a minister from 1993 until 2002, except for a period from 1996 to 1997. He retired in 2006.
Liberal MLC Angus Redford planned to move to the lower house in Bright in 2006, but lost in a shock result to the ALP’s Chloë Fox with a huge 14.4% swing.
Fox was re-elected in 2010, but suffered a 6.2% swing back towards the Liberal Party, holding on by 0.4%. That slim margin was wiped out by the recent redistribution, and Fox failed to win re-election in 2014. She lost to Liberal candidate David Speirs.
Candidates
Sitting Liberal member for Bright, David Speirs, is running for the neighbouring seat of Black.
- Kris Hanna (SA Best)
- Matthew Carey (Labor)
- Garry Connor (Dignity)
- Gwydion Rozitisolds (Greens)
- Corey Wingard (Liberal)
Assessment
Gibson is very marginal.
2014 election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| David Speirs | Liberal | 10,780 | 48.5 | +4.6 | 45.9 |
| Chloe Fox | Labor | 8,491 | 38.2 | -4.0 | 35.2 |
| Jamie Ryan | Greens | 2,081 | 9.4 | +1.5 | 8.9 |
| Steve Price | Family First | 852 | 3.8 | +0.9 | 4.0 |
| Dignity for Disability | 1.1 | ||||
| Others | 4.9 | ||||
| Informal | 488 | 2.2 |
2014 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| David Speirs | Liberal | 11,829 | 53.3 | +3.7 | 53.2 |
| Chloë Fox | Labor | 10,375 | 46.7 | -3.7 | 46.8 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Gibson have been divided into four areas: central, east, north-west and south-west.
The two-party-preferred vote was tied in the east, while the Liberal Party won a majority in the other three areas, ranging from 53.5% in the centre to 57.2% in the north-west.
| Voter group | LIB 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Central | 53.5 | 4,180 | 20.9 |
| South-West | 54.6 | 3,884 | 19.4 |
| East | 50.0 | 3,458 | 17.3 |
| North-West | 57.2 | 2,671 | 13.4 |
| Other votes | 53.4 | 5,806 | 29.0 |
Two-party-preferred votes in Gibson at the 2014 SA state election
The Electoral Commission decision to suggest Mitchell became Black, and Bright became Gibson, is hard to justify. Naturally media and commentators followed the lead of the EC but eg about 2/3 of Gibson is the old Mitchell, and over 1/2 of Black is the old Bright (the large suburb of Hallett Cove, essentially). So it was always logical Speirs MP would contest Black and Wingard MP would run for Gibson.
Former Mitchell MLA and current Marion mayor, Kris Hanna, is running for SA Best here.
My prediction: The former member for Mitchell, and Marion mayor, ALP-GRN-IND-now-SABEST Kris Hanna, has a good chance, although on current numbers, I can see this being a re-run of 2014, where the Liberals win off his preferences.
Maybe Hanna will join the Australian Conservatives next?