Electoral district of Davenport

Davenport is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after nineteenth-century pioneer and politician Sir Samuel Davenport. Davenport is a 57.7 km² electorate covering part of outer suburban Adelaide and the southern foothills of the Adelaide Hills. It takes in the suburbs of Aberfoyle Park, Bedford Park, Bellevue Heights, Chandlers Hill, Cherry Gardens, and Flagstaff Hill; and part of Happy Valley.

Davenport South Australia—House of Assembly
Electoral district of Davenport (green) in the Greater Adelaide area
State	South Australia
Created	1970
MP	Steve Murray
Party	Liberal Party of Australia (SA)
Namesake	Sir Samuel Davenport
Electors	24,794 (2018)
Area	57.71 km^2 (22.3 sq mi)
Demographic	Metropolitan
Coordinates	35°3′27″S 138°36′56″E
Electorates around Davenport: Gibson Elder Waite Black Davenport Waite Heysen Hurtle Vale Heysen Heysen
Footnotes
Electoral District map[1]

Davenport consists mostly of a series of suburbs which have been historically safe for conservative parties since its creation at the 1969 redistribution. It was initially won by Joyce Steele for the Liberal and Country League. She was succeeded after one term by Dean Brown. Brown, a prominent moderate in the party, represented Davenport for 12 years before being challenged for preselection at the 1985 election by Stan Evans, a member of the conservative wing of the renamed Liberal Party. Evans' former seat of Fisher, previously a comfortably safe Liberal seat, had been made considerably more marginal by the 1983 redistribution. A large slice of Evans' former territory was shifted to Davenport, prompting Evans to challenge Brown. Brown fended off Evans' challenge and retained his preselection, but Evans contested the election as an independent Liberal and defeated Brown, preventing Brown's then-likely ascension to the Liberal leadership after the election. Evans rejoined the parliamentary Liberal Party not long after the 1985 election, and was re-elected at the 1989 election. He retired at the 1993 election, endorsing his son, Iain, for preselection. Iain Evans held Davenport from 1993 until 2014 and was a member of the Olsen and Kerin ministries. He was opposition leader for one year following the Liberal loss at the 2006 election.

At the 2014 election, Evans suffered a 2.8 percent two-party swing against him, and a reduced margin of 8.1 percent, with two-party swings against him of up to 8 percent in some booths, including the historically Liberal-voting booth of Belair which Labor won by three votes.[2][3] On 6 June 2014 he announced he would stand down from the shadow ministry and parliament within a year and prior to the next election. There was speculation that Evans was asked to delay his resignation and the by-election for a year due to federal Liberal government budget cuts and that there could be a "super Saturday" of by-elections in up to five Liberal-held seats.[4][5]

Evans resigned from parliament on 30 October 2014. A 2015 Davenport by-election was held on 31 January 2015.[6][7][8] Liberal Sam Duluk won the seat despite a five percent two-party swing, turning the historically safe seat of Davenport in to a two-party marginal seat for the first time.[9]

After a redistribution transferred a large block of Davenport constituents to nearby Waite, Duluk opted to transfer to Waite. Steve Murray retained Davenport for the Liberals.

Members for Davenport

Member		Party	Term
	Joyce Steele	Liberal and Country	1970–1973
	Dean Brown	Liberal and Country	1973–1974
		Liberal	1974–1985
	Stan Evans	Independent Liberal	1985
		Liberal	1985–1993
	Iain Evans	Liberal	1993–2014
	Sam Duluk	Liberal	2015–2018
	Steve Murray	Liberal	2018–present

Election results

2018 South Australian state election: Davenport[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Steve Murray	9,306	42.1	−0.3
	Labor	Jonette Thorsteinsen	5,275	23.9	+3.8
	SA-Best	Karen Hockley	4,604	20.8	+20.8
	Greens	John Photakis	1,600	7.2	−0.2
	Independent	Dan Golding	1,317	6.0	+6.0
Total formal votes			22,102	96.5	−1.3
Informal votes			792	3.5	+1.3
Turnout			22,894	92.3	−0.7
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Steve Murray	12,992	58.8	−0.7
	Labor	Jonette Thorsteinsen	9,110	41.2	+0.7
	Liberal hold		Swing	−0.7

See also

• 2015 Davenport state by-election

Notes

1. Electoral District of Davenport (Map). Electoral Commission of South Australia. 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
2. 2014 Davenport booth results: ECSA
3. 2010 Davenport booth results: ECSA
4. Davenport by-election – Labor lacking confidence, accuse Greens: ABC 10 June 2014
5. Liberals eye super by-election to oust ‘deadwood’ MPs after Martin Hamilton-Smith’s defection: The Advertiser 30 May 2014
6. Iain Evans to quit, Senior Liberal will retire from SA politics and force by-election: ABC 6 June 2014
7. Departing SA Liberal Iain Evans takes final swipe at parliamentary colleagues: ABC 30 October 2014
8. Davenport by-election date in South Australia set for January 31: ABC 13 November 2014
9. Liberals withstand swing to win by-election in South Australian seat of Davenport: ABC 31 January 2015
10. State Election Results – District Results for Davenport, ECSA.

References

• ECSA profile for Davenport: 2018
• ABC profile for Davenport: 2018
• Poll Bludger profile for Davenport: 2018