ALP 14.1%
Incumbent MP
Eddie Hughes, since 2014.
Geography
North-western parts of South Australia. Giles is a massive electorate, with most of the electorate’s population in the towns of Whyalla and Port Augusta (the western part) in the south-eastern corner of the electorate, and then stretching out to the northwestern corner of the state, covering Coober Pedy, Roxby Downs and Woomera. The electorate also covers Flinders Ranges council area, at the eastern edge of the electorate.
Redistribution
Giles expanded to the east, taking in the western half of Port Augusta from Stuart. Giles lost its south-western fringe, including Cowell, Kimba and Maralinga.
The electorate of Giles has existed since 1993, when it replaced the former electorate of Whyalla, which had existed since 1956. Both electorates were always held by the ALP.
Frank Blevins was the third Labor MP to represent Whyalla when he was elected in 1985. Blevins served as a minister, and rose to the position of Deputy Premier from 1992 to 1993. In 1993, he ran for the reconstituted seat of Giles.
Blevins retired in 1997, and Lyn Breuer won Giles, again for the ALP. Breuer won re-election in 2002, 2006 and 2010. She served as Speaker of the House of Assembly from 2010 to 2013.
Breuer retired in 2014, and Labor’s Eddie Hughes won Giles. Hughes was re-elected in 2018.
- Eddie Hughes (Labor)
- Jane Mount (Greens)
- Barry Drage (One Nation)
- John McComb (Family First)
- Tom Antonio (SA-Best)
- Graham Taylor (Liberal)
Assessment
Giles is a safe Labor seat.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Eddie Hughes | Labor | 9,176 | 47.0 | -2.7 | 47.3 |
| Tom Antonio | SA-Best | 5,070 | 25.9 | +25.9 | 22.8 |
| Mark Walsh | Liberal | 3,611 | 18.5 | -20.8 | 21.2 |
| Anna Taylor | Greens | 713 | 3.6 | -1.3 | 4.1 |
| Cheryl Kaminski | Australian Christians | 502 | 2.6 | -3.6 | 2.3 |
| Cyanne Westerman | Dignity | 470 | 2.4 | +2.4 | 2.3 |
| Informal | 662 | 3.3 |
2018 two-candidate-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing |
| Eddie Hughes | Labor | 11,222 | 57.4 | +2.2 |
| Tom Antonio | SA-Best | 8,320 | 42.6 | +42.6 |
2018 two-party-preferred result
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Redist |
| Eddie Hughes | Labor | 12,732 | 65.2 | +10.0 | 64.1 |
| Mark Walsh | Liberal | 6,810 | 34.8 | -10.0 | 35.9 |
Booths in Giles have been divided into five areas. Polling places in the Whyalla urban area were split between east and west. The single polling place in Port Augusta has been kept on its own. The remainder of the seat was split between booths in the south of the electorate and the outback.
The ALP won large majorities in Whyalla, with 72.1% in the east and 76.9% in the west. The Liberal Party polled 65% of the two-party-preferred vote in Port Augusta. Labor won in the outback more narrowly (53.9%) while the Liberal Party polled 55.7% in the south.
| Voter group | SAB prim % | ALP 2PP % | Total votes | % of votes |
| Whyalla West | 25.3 | 76.9 | 4,848 | 23.2 |
| Whyalla East | 25.7 | 72.1 | 3,721 | 17.8 |
| Outback | 22.0 | 53.9 | 1,731 | 8.3 |
| Port Augusta | 0.0 | 35.0 | 1,097 | 5.2 |
| South | 27.3 | 44.3 | 790 | 3.8 |
| Other votes | 22.8 | 60.9 | 8,725 | 41.7 |
Election results in Giles at the 2018 South Australian state election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes, two-party-preferred votes and primary votes for Labor, SA-Best and the Liberal Party.
What makes this rural seat vote Labor? Quite unusual.
It’s not really a ‘rural’ seat….most of the population is in the strongly-Labor voting industrial town of Whyalla.
Whyalla
I was surprised SA-Best actually had any candidates running in the Lower House, Tom Antonio isn’t even mentioned on the SA-Best website as a candidate! (As previously mentioned, 2 other ex-SA Best candidates are now running for the Nationals.) As we saw in Fed 2019, NXT lost a huge amount of it’s vote when contesting under CA. I’d expect a big swing against SA-Best and a correction to the Liberals, leaving this seat back to a classic Lib v Lab Battle. (Especially with more Liberal leaning Port Augusta being added.) Labor to hold.
Expect a further swing to Labor as Port Augusta will not vote 65%
The problem has always been Whyalla, rusted on Labor and unions hopefully that changes
Why has Labor’s vote held up in Whyalla, with an ageing, Anglo less educated population, a cohort that has drifted rightward in other former Labor regional strongholds? Labor’s vote has fallen away notably in the rest of the ‘Iron Triangle’.
Just like Stuart there is a big element of the personal vote here. Stuart has 65% liberal party booths in Port Augusta.. these are indeed abnormal votes..
Geoffrey I was going to post earlier today and have a go at you about people in Whyalla being less educated aging Anglo, but after today I would have to agree, I don’t know why Whyalla continue to vote Labor cos reality whoever gets the chance to be a candidate no matter how grubby they are gets in. It really does seem at least 2/3 of the population are generational Labor voters and they really don’t care. They have been given the chance time and time again to force Giles to become marginal, but again Whyalla ignorant fools reject change