Electoral district of Frome

Not to be confused with Frome (UK Parliament constituency).

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 stretches north-eastwards from the Gawler River and Gulf St Vincent in the south, and includes many of the agricultural areas of the Clare and Gilbert Valleys. It covers a total of 12,921 km² (4,989 sq mi) and takes in the towns of Auburn, Clare, Mintaro, Port Broughton, Saddleworth, Snowtown and Riverton.^[3] Prior to the 2020 redistribution, its main population centre was Port Pirie, since transferred to Stuart.

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	Penny Pratt
Party	Liberal
Namesake	Edward Charles Frome
Electors	23,319 (2018)
Area	12,921.4 km2 (4,989.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural
Coordinates	33°44′16″S 138°20′18″E
Electorates around Frome: Stuart Stuart Stuart Narungga Frome Chaffey Narungga Schubert Chaffey
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 from 1993 to 2026, when it will be renamed Ngadjuri.^[4]

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.^[5] 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. A redistribution in 2020 transferred the regional city of Port Pirie, where Brock was based in, from Frome to the electorate of Stuart.^[6][7] Brock transferred to Stuart at the 2022 state election and Frome was regained by the Liberal Party in the 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	2009–2022
	Penny Pratt	Liberal	2022–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Frome

2022 South Australian state election: Frome

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Penny Pratt	10,573	45.0	−10.1
	Labor	Ashton Charvetto	6,002	25.6	+5.5
	Independent	Cate Hunter	3,908	16.6	+16.6
	One Nation	Caterina Johnston	2,588	11.0	+11.0
	National	Loma Silsbury	410	1.7	+1.7
Total formal votes			23,481	96.3
Informal votes			900	3.7
Turnout			24,381	90.6
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Penny Pratt	13,645	58.1	−10.0
	Labor	Ashton Charvetto	9,836	41.9	+10.0
	Liberal notional hold		Swing	−10.0

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 South Australian state election (House of Assembly) § Frome.[edit]

Notes

1. Electoral District of Frome (Map). Electoral Commission of South Australia. 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
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. "Frome: 2022-2026 electoral district map". Electoral Commission of South Australia. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
4. Biggs, Harvey Electorate of Frome to be renamed 'Ngadjuri' as part of 2026 SA election redistribution after concerns about namesake Edward Frome ABC News, 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
5. "Final redistribution report". Electoral Commission of South Australia. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
6. "New State Electoral Boundaries for South Australia Finalised". Antony Green's Election Blog. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
7. "Electoral redistribution in regional South Australia means popular MPs will go head-to-head in 2022". ABC News. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2022.

References

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