Since 1970, the South Australian House of Assembly — the lower house of the Parliament of South Australia — has consisted of 47 single-member electoral districts consisting of approximately the same number of enrolled voters. The district boundaries are regulated by the State Electoral Office, according to the requirements of the South Australian Constitution and are subject to mandatory redistributions by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission in order to respond to changing demographics.
9-501: The South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission is an independent, non partisan commission responsible for the compulsory re-drawing of South Australian House of Assembly electoral districts after each South Australian election. The Commission was established in 1975 under an amendment to the South Australian Constitution to carry out periodic redistributions of the electoral boundaries of
18-791: A government to be formed. This “fairness” criterion was unique to South Australia and was repealed by the Australian Labor Party government of Jay Weatherill in 2017. The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission consists of 3 members: A chairperson who is the most senior puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia appointed by the Chief Justice, the Electoral Commissioner of the Electoral Commission of South Australia and
27-606: A redistribution, the Commission is required to ensure that the number of electors in each electoral district does not vary from the electoral quota by more than a permissible tolerance of 10 per cent. The electoral quota is determined by dividing the total number of electors as at the relevant date by the number of electoral districts into which the State is divided. Since 1969 this number has been 47. The Commission must also have regard to matters which are outlined in section 83(2) of
36-468: The Surveyor General of South Australia . South Australian House of Assembly electoral districts Electoral boundaries are adjusted after each election. The number of electors in each district must be within 10% of the average at the time of the redistribution order. Other issues that may be considered include economic, social and regional communities of interest. From 1990 to 2018, it
45-571: The Constitution Act 1934 (SA), being: Following a referendum , between 1991 and 2016 the Boundaries Commission was also required to have ensured, as far as practicable, that the redistribution was fair to prospective candidates and groups of candidates, so that if candidates of a particular group attracted more than 50 per cent of the popular vote, including preferences, they would be elected in sufficient numbers to enable
54-613: The State’s lower house , the House of Assembly in the Parliament of South Australia . Originally, these redistributions were to take place after five or more years had elapsed between two general elections held on the same boundaries. After a change to 4 year terms occurred in 1985, this was seen as insufficient and in 1991, following a referendum, this was changed so that redistributions take place following each general election. When making
63-614: The number of districts varied between 12 (1912–1915) and 27 (1890–1901). Each district returned from 1-6 members. Since 1938, the South Australian House of Assembly has had single-member electoral districts. From 1938 to 1968 there were 39 districts. Since 1970 there have been 47 electoral districts. This table gives the number of members returned by each electoral district at each election. These electoral districts no longer exist: ^a Metropolitan 2PP correctly calculated by adding raw metro 2PP vote numbers from
72-523: The state's population resides in the Greater Adelaide metropolitan area and has 72% of seats (34 of 47) alongside a lack of comparatively sized rural population centres, therefore the metropolitan area is crucial in deciding election outcomes. At the 2014 election for example, although the statewide two-party vote (2PP) was 47.0% Labor vs. 53.0% Liberal , the metropolitan area recorded a 2PP of 51.5% Labor v 48.5% Liberal. From 1857 to 1933,
81-411: Was also a requirement that each redistribution attempt to ensure that the party that obtains 50% or more of the overall vote at a general election would be able to form a government; this requirement has since been repealed. While South Australia 's total population exceeds 1.8 million, Adelaide 's population exceeds 1.4 million (as at 30 June 2023) − uniquely highly centralised, over 78% of
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