Electoral district of Frome

Frome is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly.[2] It is named after Edward Charles Frome, the third surveyor-general of South Australia. The electorate is based on the industrial city of Port Pirie, and also includes many of the agricultural areas of the Clare and Gilbert Valleys. It covers a total of 6,435 km² (2,485 sq mi) and takes in the towns of Auburn, Clare, Crystal Brook, Mintaro, Port Broughton, Saddleworth, Snowtown and Riverton in addition to Port Pirie.

Frome South Australia—House of Assembly
Electoral district of Frome (green) in South Australia
State	South Australia
Dates current	1884–1902, 1938–1977, 1993–present
MP	Geoff Brock
Party	Independent
Namesake	Edward Charles Frome
Electors	23,319 (2018)
Area	6,435.2 km^2 (2,484.6 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Coordinates	33°44′16″S 138°20′18″E
Electorates around Frome: Giles Stuart Stuart Giles Frome Chaffey Narungga Schubert Hammond
Footnotes
Electoral District map[1]

Frome has existed in three incarnations throughout the history of the House of Assembly: as a two-seat multi-member marginal electorate from 1884 to 1902, as a single-member electorate from 1938 to 1977, and as a marginal to moderately safe single-member electorate for the Liberal Party since 1993.

The electoral districts of Pirie and Port Pirie have also historically existed.

The first incarnation of Frome was, like the rest of the state, independent-held until the development of the party system in the 1890s. The two seats were split evenly with a conservative and a liberal member from 1890 until the seat's abolition in 1902.

The second incarnation began in 1938 after the introduction of the Playmander. It was based on the area north of Port Pirie, and was originally a Labor stronghold. The seat was won by Mick O'Halloran, who held it until his death in 1960, serving as Opposition Leader from 1949 to 1960. After the Playmander was significantly diluted by the 1970 electoral reforms, Frome was moved into more conservative-leaning rural areas around Port Pirie, turning it into a notional Liberal and Country League (LCL) seat. O'Halloran's successor, Tom Casey, believed this made Frome impossible to hold and successfully transferred to the Legislative Council. The LCL, which later became the South Australia division of the Liberal Party, won the seat at the 1970 state election, and went on to hold Frome until the abolition of the seat in 1977.

The third and current incarnation was created at the 1991 redistribution as a marginal Liberal seat based on Port Pirie. The seat was first contested at the 1993 election. Despite the presence of Port Pirie, a Labor stronghold for more than a century, Labor has never won this incarnation due to the heavy Liberal tilt of the surrounding rural area. Labor did however win 50.1 percent of the two-party vote at the 2010 election, but the seat was retained by incumbent independent Geoff Brock.

Rob Kerin became the elected member in the Liberal landslide of 1993. He went on to become Premier of South Australia in 2001, and Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 after the Liberals narrowly lost the 2002 state election. Kerin chose to retire in November 2008, which triggered the January 2009 by-election. The by-election was won by independent Geoff Brock, the popular mayor of the Port Pirie Regional Council, after a very close contest with the Labor candidate for second place behind the Liberal candidate. Brock received sufficient preferences from the eliminated Labor candidate to prevail over the Liberal candidate by over 600 votes, receiving 51.7 percent of the two-candidate vote. He increased his primary and two-candidate vote significantly at the 2010 election; Labor won 50.1 percent of the "traditional" Labor/Liberal two-party preferred vote at this election.

With the 2012 redistribution, the Labor/Liberal two-party-preferred margin in Frome went from 0.1 percent Labor to 1.7 percent Liberal.[3] Brock retained the electorate at the 2014 election with a slight increase to his margin, while the Liberals won 60.8 percent of the "traditional" two-party preferred vote. His decision to back the Labor minority government allowed Labor to win a record fourth consecutive four-year term in government.

Brock retained the electorate at the 2018 election.

Members for Frome

First incarnation (1884–1902, two members)
Member1		Party	Term	Member2		Party	Term
	Ebenezer Ward		1884–1890		William Copley		1884–1887
	Laurence O'Loughlin		1890–1891		Clement Giles		1887–1891
		Defence League	1891–1896			Defence League	1891–1896
			1896–1902			National League	1896–1902

Second incarnation (1938–1977)
Member		Party	Term
	Mick O'Halloran	Labor	1938–1960
	Tom Casey	Labor	1960–1970
	Ernest Allen	Liberal and Country	1970–1974
		Liberal	1974–1977

Third incarnation (1993–present)
Member		Party	Term
	Rob Kerin	Liberal	1993–2008
	Geoff Brock	Independent	2009–present

Election results

2018 South Australian state election: Frome[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Geoff Brock	9,516	46.0	+2.1
	Liberal	Kendall Jackson	7,929	38.3	+3.0
	Labor	Annette Elliot	2,077	10.0	−2.4
	Greens	Paul Birkwood	622	3.0	+0.2
	Dignity	Cat Connor	556	2.7	+2.7
Total formal votes			20,700	96.7	-0.9
Informal votes			717	3.3	+0.9
Turnout			21,417	91.8	−1.2
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Kendall Jackson	12,648	61.1	+1.3
	Labor	Annette Elliot	8,052	38.9	−1.3
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Geoff Brock	12,043	58.2	−1.2
	Liberal	Kendall Jackson	8,657	41.8	+1.2
	Independent hold		Swing	−1.2

Notes

1. Electoral District of Frome (Map). Electoral Commission of South Australia. 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
2. "Statistical Record of the Legislature 1836 to 2009" (PDF). Parliament of South Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
3. "Final redistribution report". Electoral Commission of South Australia. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
4. State Election Results – District Results for Frome, ECSA.

References

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