Electoral district of Frome

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	25,228 (2014)
Area	8,266 km^2 (3,191.5 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Coordinates	33°44′16″S 138°20′18″E / 33.73778°S 138.33833°ECoordinates: 33°44′16″S 138°20′18″E / 33.73778°S 138.33833°E

Frome is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia.^[1] It is named after Edward Charles Frome, the third surveyor-general of South Australia. The electorate is seated in the industrial city of Port Pirie and the agriculture areas of Clare and Gilbert Valleys. It covers a total of 8,266 km² and takes in the towns of Auburn, Clare, Crystal Brook, Mintaro, Port Broughton, Port Pirie, Saddleworth, Snowtown and Riverton.

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

The first incarnation was, like the rest of the state, independent-held until the development of the party system until 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 around the area north of Port Pirie, and was originally a Labor stronghold. The seat was won by Mick O'Halloran, who served as Opposition Leader from 1949 until his death in 1960. After the Playmander was significantly diluted by the 1970 electoral reforms, Frome was pushed into more conservative-leaning rural areas around Port Pirie, turning it into a notional Liberal and Country League 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.

The seats of Pirie and Port Pirie have also historically existed.

The seat's first member, Rob Kerin, was elected in the massive Liberal landslide of 1993. Kerin went on to become Premier of South Australia in 2001, and became 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 a January 2009 by-election. The seat was won by independent Geoff Brock, the popular mayor of Port Pirie Regional Council, after a very close preference contest in which Brock narrowly edged the Labor candidate for second place behind the Liberals. Brock received sufficient preferences from the eliminated Labor candidate to prevail over the Liberal candidate by over 600 votes, or 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" two-party vote at this election.

The 2012 redistribution saw the traditional two-party-preferred margin in Frome go from 0.1 percent Labor to 1.7 percent Liberal.^[2] Brock retained the seat at the 2014 election with a slight uptick in his margin, while the Liberals won 60.8 percent of the "traditional" two-party vote. His decision to back a Labor minority government allowed Labor to win a record fourth consecutive four-year term in government.

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

South Australian state election, 2014: Frome^[3][4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Geoff Brock	10,342	45.2	+10.1
	Liberal	Kendall Jackson	8,217	35.9	−2.7
	Labor	Marcus Connelly	2,598	11.3	−7.1
	Family First	Wendy Joyce	1,156	5.1	+1.9
	Greens	Rob Scott	578	2.5	−0.6
Total formal votes			22,891	97.6	+0.3
Informal votes			566	2.4	−0.3
Turnout			23,457	93.0	−1.8
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Kendall Jackson		60.8	+9.1
	Labor	Marcus Connelly		39.2	−9.1
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Geoff Brock	13,451	58.8	+2.1
	Liberal	Kendall Jackson	9,440	41.2	−2.1
	Independent hold		Swing	+2.1

Notes

1. "Statistical Record of the Legislature 1836 to 2009" (PDF). Parliament of South Australia.
2. "Final redistribution report". Electoral Commission of South Australia.
3. 2014 State Election Results – Frome, ECSA.
4. 2014 State Election Results – Frome, ABC.
5. 2014 SA election pendulum: Antony Green ABC

References

• ABC profile for Frome: 2014
• ECSA profile for Frome: 2014
• Poll Bludger profile for Frome: 2014