| Boothby AustralianHouse of RepresentativesDivision | |
|---|---|
  Interactive map of boundaries since the2019 federal election | |
| Created | 1903 |
| MP | Louise Miller-Frost |
| Party | Labor |
| Namesake | William Boothby |
| Electors | 128,766 (2022) |
| Area | 130 km2 (50.2 sq mi) |
| Demographic | Outer metropolitan |
TheDivision of Boothby is anAustralian federal electoral division inSouth Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the formerDivision of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named afterWilliam Boothby (1829–1903), the Returning Officer for thefirst federal election.[1]
At the2016 federal election, the seat covered 130 km², extending fromClarence Gardens andUrrbrae in the north toMarino and part ofHappy Valley in the south, including the suburbs ofBelair,Blackwood,Brighton,Daw Park,Eden Hills,Marion,Mitcham,Seacliff,St Marys andPanorama.
Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by theAustralian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.[2]
Before 1949 and the creation of theDivision of Sturt, Boothby covered most of the southern and eastern suburbs ofAdelaide. For much of the first half-century after Federation, it was one of only three seats based on the capital, the others beingAdelaide andHindmarsh. The mostly rural seat ofBarker was then considered a "hybrid urban-rural" seat, stretching from the southern tip of South Australia at least as far as Glenelg and the Holdfast Bay area, and at times even stretched as far as the western metropolitan suburbs ofKeswick andHenley Beach.
For most of the first half-century after Federation, Boothby was a marginal seat that changed hands several times between theLiberal Party of Australia (and its predecessors) and theAustralian Labor Party (ALP). The1949 expansion of parliament saw parts of the southern portion transferred to the newly createdDivision of Kingston and parts of the eastern portion transferred to the newly created Sturt. This saw Boothby change from a marginal Labor seat on a 1.8 percent two-party margin to a marginal Liberal seat on a two percent two-party margin. However, as part of the massive Liberal victory in the 1949 election, the Liberals picked up a 9.3 percent two-party swing, turning it into a safe Liberal seat in one stroke. The Liberals mostly held the seat for the next 73 years as a fairly safe Liberal seat.
There was only one substantial redistribution in the past few decades when Boothby absorbed parts of the abolishedDivision of Hawker before the1993 election. This cut the Liberal margin by more than half, from a safe 10.7 two-party margin to a marginal notional 4.5 percent two-party margin. However, the Liberals won the seat on a fairly safe 7.8 percent two-party margin. As of 2007, Boothby extended fromMitcham andBelair in the east toBrighton andSeacliff in the west.[3]
Boothby's most prominent member wasSteele Hall, who most notably served asPremier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. After leaving state politics, Hall served in the Senate before transferring to Boothby in a1981 by-election. Hall retired at the1996 election and the seat was subsequently held from 1996 to 2016 byAndrew Southcott. Other notable members includeLee Batchelor, a minister in theWatson andFisher governments;Sir John McLeay, who wasSpeaker from 1956 to 1966, and his sonJohn, Jr., a minister in theFraser government.
At the2004 election, despite a solid national two-party swing and vote to the Liberals, Boothby became a marginal Liberal seat for the first time in over half a century, with Labor'sChloë Fox reducing the Liberal margin to 5.4 percent even as incumbentAndrew Southcott narrowly won enough primary votes to retain the seat without the need for preferences. Labor'sNicole Cornes reduced Southcott's margin even further to 2.9 percent at the2007 election. At the2010 election Labor'sAnnabel Digance came within 638 votes of ending the long Liberal run in the seat. At 0.75 percent Boothby was the most marginal seat in South Australia. However, Boothby became a fairly safe Liberal seat again at the2013 election.
In 2015, Southcott announced his retirement from parliament to take effect at the2016 federal election. The Liberals preselected doctoral student and newspaper columnistNicolle Flint.[4] Labor preselected2015 Davenport state by-election candidate Mark Ward.[5] TheNick Xenophon Team announced Mitcham councillor Karen Hockley as their candidate.[6]ABCpsephologistAntony Green's 2016 federal election guide for South Australia stated NXT had a "strong chance of winning lower house seats and three or four Senate seats".[7] Flint won the contest.[8] Flint held on narrowly on 53.5 percent of the two-party vote on a swing of 3.6 percent, making the seat marginal once again.
A redistribution ahead of the2019 federal election pared back the Liberal margin to 2.7 percent. This came even as Boothby absorbedGlenelg and much of theHoldfast Bay area from neighbouring Hindmarsh.[9] Flint won reelection again, despite suffering a swing of 1.3 points. With a margin of 1.3 points, Boothby was the most marginal seat in South Australia and one of the most marginal metropolitan Coalition seats in Australia at the 2022 election.
On 26 February 2021, Flint announced her retirement from parliament to take effect at the2022 Australian federal election.[10] Vinnies SA CEOLouise Miller-Frost was preselected by Labor in mid-2021 and won the seat at the 21 May 2022 Federal election with 4.66% swing. Flint sought to regain Boothby in2025, but Miller-Frost retained it on a swing of 7.8 percent. This was enough to boost her margin to 11 percent, the strongest result for Labor in the seat's history and enough to make it a safe Labor seat on paper.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Louise Miller-Frost | 50,015 | 42.62 | +10.30 | |
| Liberal | Nicolle Flint | 38,117 | 32.48 | −5.51 | |
| Greens | Joanna Wells | 20,046 | 17.08 | +1.88 | |
| One Nation | Tonya Scott | 3,560 | 3.03 | +0.99 | |
| Trumpet of Patriots | Nicole Hussey | 3,250 | 2.77 | +2.29 | |
| Family First | Samuel Prior | 2,351 | 2.00 | +2.00 | |
| Total formal votes | 117,339 | 97.42 | +1.86 | ||
| Informal votes | 3,113 | 2.58 | −1.86 | ||
| Turnout | 120,452 | 93.00 | +0.46 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Louise Miller-Frost | 71,698 | 61.10 | +7.82 | |
| Liberal | Nicolle Flint | 45,641 | 38.90 | −7.82 | |
| Laborhold | Swing | +7.82 | |||
35°00′43″S138°35′46″E / 35.012°S 138.596°E /-35.012; 138.596
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