LIB 13.2%
Incumbent MP
Isobel Redmond, since 2002.
Geography
Regional South Australia. Heysen covers areas to the south-east of Adelaide, including the suburbs and towns of Aldgate, Bridgewater, Crafers, Cherry Gardens, Clarendon, Echunga, Kangarilla, Macclesfield and Stirling. The electorate covers the southernmost parts of the Adelaide Hills and Mount Barker council areas, as well as northern parts of Alexandrina council area.
Redistribution
Heysen shifted south, losing areas around Mount Barker to Kavel, and gaining areas from Fisher and Mawson.
History
Heysen has existed since the 1985 election, and had previously existed from 1970 to 1977. The seat has always been held by the Liberal Party. The seat has been a stronghold for the Australian Democrats in the past, with the party coming close to winning at the 1997 election.
William McAnaney won the seat for the first time in 1970 for the Liberal and Country League. McAnaney had held the seat of Stirling from 1963 to 1970.
McAnaney retired at the 1975 election, and was succeeded in Heysen by David Wotton. Wotton had to move to the seat of Murray in 1977 when Heysen was abolished, and returned to the restored Heysen in 1985, when Murray was abolished.
At the 1997 election, the Australian Democrats came second in Heysen, achieving a two-candidate-preferred vote of 48.1%. This was followed by a 46% figure in 2002.
At the 2002 election, Wotton retired and Heysen was won by Isobel Redmond.
Redmond was promoted to the Liberal frontbench in 2004, and was elected Liberal leader in 2009. She led the Liberal Party to the 2010 election, when they won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote but failed to win enough seats to win the election. She continued to serve as Leader of the Opposition until her resignation in January 2013.
Redmond was re-elected in 2014.
Candidates
Sitting Liberal MP Isobel Redmond is not running for re-election.
- Lynette Stevenson (Conservatives)
- Tony Webb (Labor)
- Lynton Vonow (Greens)
- John Illingworth (SA Best)
- Josh Teague (Liberal)
- Andrew Ey (Dignity)
Assessment
On paper, Heysen is a reasonably safe Liberal seat, with the Greens and Labor competing for second place. In practice, it’s likely to be a strong area for SA Best – no other seat had a high NXT vote at the 2016 Senate election.
2014 election result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Isobel Redmond | Liberal | 12,768 | 55.5 | -2.4 | 54.4 |
| Paul Yiallouros | Labor | 4,527 | 19.7 | +2.7 | 19.8 |
| Lynton Vonow | Greens | 4,527 | 19.7 | -0.1 | 19.5 |
| Amy Park | Dignity for Disability | 1,192 | 5.2 | +5.2 | 4.8 |
| Others | 1.2 | ||||
| Family First | 0.3 | ||||
| Informal | 630 | 2.7 |
2014 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Isobel Redmond | Liberal | 14,040 | 61.0 | -5.5 |
| Lynton Vonow | Greens | 8,974 | 39.0 | +39.0 |
2014 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Isobel Redmond | Liberal | 14,619 | 63.5 | -3.0 | 63.2 |
| Paul Yiallouros | Labor | 8,395 | 36.5 | +3.0 | 36.8 |
Booth breakdown
Booths in Heysen have been divided into three areas: central, north and south.
The Liberal primary vote ranged from 51% in the north to 61% in the south.
The Greens vote ranged from 13.5% in the south to 24% in the north, and the Labor vote ranged from 17% in the centre to 20.7% in the north.
| Voter group | LIB prim % | GRN prim % | ALP prim % | Total votes | % of votes |
| North | 51.0 | 24.0 | 20.7 | 9,261 | 41.8 |
| South | 61.0 | 13.5 | 18.6 | 3,963 | 17.9 |
| Central | 54.5 | 17.5 | 17.0 | 3,845 | 17.3 |
| Other votes | 55.5 | 17.6 | 20.9 | 5,109 | 23.0 |
Election results in Heysen at the 2014 SA state election
Click on the ‘visible layers’ box to toggle between Liberal primary votes, Labor primary votes and Greens primary votes.