| Fisher South Australia—House of Assembly | |
|---|---|
 Electoral district of Fisher (green) in the Greater Adelaide area | |
| State | South Australia |
| Created | 1970 |
| Abolished | 2018 |
| Namesake | James Hurtle Fisher |
| Electors | 25,829 (2014) |
| Area | 94.2 km2 (36.4 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Metropolitan |
| Coordinates | 35°5′31″S138°36′57″E / 35.09194°S 138.61583°E /-35.09194; 138.61583 |
Fisher was anelectoral district of theHouse of Assembly in the Australian state ofSouth Australia. It was created in 1970 and named after SirJames Fisher, a colonial politician and the first mayor ofAdelaide.[1][2] It was abolished in a 2016 redistribution and its last MP,Nat Cook was elected to represent its replacement,Hurtle Vale, at the2018 state election.[3][4] It covers a 94.2 km2 suburban and semi rural area on the southern fringes ofAdelaide,[1] taking in the suburbs ofAberfoyle Park,Chandlers Hill,Cherry Gardens,Coromandel East,Happy Valley,Reynella East and parts ofClarendon,O'Halloran Hill andWoodcroft.[2]
Before the 1983 electoral redistribution, Fisher took in theBlackwood area and was a safeLiberal seat, held byStan Evans. The redistribution turned it into a marginal "mortgage belt" seat on a notional Liberal 2.1 percent two-party margin. With the bulk of his base shifted to the neighbouring seat ofDavenport, Evans chose to challengeDean Brown for Liberal preselection in Davenport. Evans lost in a bruising factional battle but chose to stand as an independent and was elected.[5][6][7] With no sitting member at the1985 election, Fisher was won byPhilip Tyler and becameLabor's second-most marginal seat.[8] The seat returned to the Liberal Party in1989 whenBob Such won the seat, which he held for the following 25 years.[9] Such substantially increased his margin at the1993 election landslide.
Changes in demographics during the 1990s made Fisher a marginal to fairly safe Liberal seat, but the Liberals lost control of the seat when Such resigned from the party to sit as anindependent MP from October 2000. Such successfully retained his seat with an increased margin at the2002 election and served asSpeaker of the South Australian House of Assembly from 2005 to 2006 in theMike Rann Labor government.[9] He subsequently retained his seat with another margin increase to 16.7 percent at the2006 election, despite early reports that the seat may fall to either the Labor or Liberal parties. The outcome of the 2006 election saw Such face former President of Australian Young LaborAmanda Rishworth on thetwo-candidate vote as opposed to a Liberal candidate in 2002, and Labor finished ahead of the Liberals on a 59.4 percenttwo-party vote from a 15.1 percent two-party swing, marking the first time since the1985 election that Labor won the two-party vote in Fisher. Rishworth went on to win the federal seat ofKingston at the2007 election, which takes in suburbs to the south west of Fisher. At the2010 election, Such was re-elected with a virtually unchanged margin of 17.4% (again facing a Liberal candidate on the two-candidate vote), which fell to 9.4% at the2014 election.[10]
Such was diagnosed with a brain tumour a week after the 2014 election and died on 11 October.[9] A2014 Fisher by-election occurred on 6 December. Labor'sNat Cook won the by-election by nine votes[4][11] from a 7.3 percent two-party swing, giving Labor amajority by one seat.[12] On a margin of 0.02% margin, Fisher became the most marginal seat in parliament.[11][12][13] Fisher was abolished as an electoral district as part of the mandatory redistribution following the2014 state election. TheSouth Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission has designated the new seat ofHurtle Vale as its successor, with the new boundaries coming into effect from the2018 state election. The name was chosen to retain the connection with Sir James Fisher as Hurtle was his middle name.[4] Only the areas bounded by Reynella East, Woodcroft, and Happy Valley, however, were moved into the new seat, which actually takes in much more of the old district ofReynell.[3][4] Suburbs including Cherry Gardens, Chandlers Hill, Aberfoyle Park, and parts of Happy Valley were moved into the re-drawn Davenport. The majority of Davenport electors from the 2014 boundaries were moved intoWaite, which also gained the parts of Fisher east ofCoromandel Valley.[4][7][14] The southern parts of Fisher centred around Clarendon were moved to intoHeysen.[4][15] The sitting member chose to contest the 2018 election as a candidate in Hurtle Vale.[3]
| Member | Party | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stan Evans | Liberal and Country | 1970–1974 | |
| Liberal | 1974–1985 | ||
| Philip Tyler | Labor | 1985–1989 | |
| Bob Such | Liberal | 1989–2000 | |
| Independent Liberal | 2000–2014 | ||
| Nat Cook | Labor | 2014–2018 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Heidi Harris | 7,413 | 36.1 | +1.0 | |
| Labor | Nat Cook | 5,495 | 26.7 | +9.0 | |
| Independent Continue Such's Legacy | Dan Woodyatt | 4,789 | 23.3 | +23.3 | |
| Independent Honest True Local | Dan Golding | 880 | 4.3 | +4.3 | |
| Independent Leading the Community | Rob de Jonge | 809 | 3.9 | +3.9 | |
| Greens | Malwina Wyra | 708 | 3.4 | −1.3 | |
| Stop Population Growth Now | Bob Couch | 270 | 1.3 | +1.3 | |
| IndependentDemocrat | Jeanie Walker | 195 | 0.9 | +0.9 | |
| Total formal votes | 20,559 | 96.1 | −1.5 | ||
| Informal votes | 841 | 3.9 | +1.5 | ||
| Turnout | 21,400 | 82.9 | −10.5 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Nat Cook | 10,284 | 50.02 | +7.27 | |
| Liberal | Heidi Harris | 10,275 | 49.98 | −7.27 | |
| Laborgain fromIndependent | Swing | +7.27 | |||
Member for Fisher from 25 November 1989 to 11 October 2014 (his death)