Premier caught offside by Bowden-Brompton split plan
Premier Peter Malinauskas has urged the state’s boundaries commission to abandon a proposal to move Bowden and part of Brompton out of his electorate to a neighbouring seat, arguing it would “fragment a community that views itself as one”.
Malinauskas’s inner-northwestern seat of Croydon was one of 21 Lower House seats that the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission proposed adjusting in its draft report published last month.
The commission, an independent body chaired by Supreme Court Judge Anne Bampton, wants to shift all of Bowden out of Croydon and into Transport and Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis’s neighbouring seat of West Torrens.
West Torrens would also gain a small portion of Brompton immediately northwest of Bowden.
The existing boundaries of Croydon include Bowden and all of Brompton. Map: Electoral Commission
The proposed new boundaries of Croydon exclude Bowden and part of Brompton. Map: Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission
The changes would affect around 1400 voters in deep Labor territory and are, based on the commission’s calculations, politically insignificant.
Malinauskas’s seat would remain Labor’s safest with a 23.6 per cent margin over the Liberal Party – down just 1.3 points from 2022 – while Koutsantonis’s margin would only drop 0.2 points to 18.7 per cent.
But the Premier has objected to splitting Bowden and Brompton over two electorates and is urging the commission to reverse course before its final determination in November.
In a letter to the commission’s secretary on Monday, Malinauskas argued the proposed boundary redraw “would undermine the deep and long-standing connection between the suburbs of Bowden and Brompton, which function as a unified community”.
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He also said this type of connection “does not exist with Hindmarsh and Bowden”, contending that Port Road creates “a natural divide” between the two suburbs.
The newly proposed boundaries of West Torrens incorporate Bowden and part of Brompton in its northeast. Map: Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission
“From my experience organising local events and advocating for community issues in both Bowden and Brompton, I have seen first-hand the inseparable ties that connect these suburbs,” he wrote.
“For example, in June 2023, I held a community forum at Plant 3 in Bowden, which was attended by 88 local residents.
“Despite the forum being held in Bowden, approximately 30 of those attendees were from Brompton, reflecting the shared interests and concerns across both suburbs.”
Malinauskas also said residents of the two suburbs view the ongoing redevelopment of Bowden and the old Brompton gasworks site as “a single renewal project”.
“There is a rich history between Bowden and Brompton, and the ongoing development project further reinforces this connection,” he said.
“Removing Bowden from the electorate would not only disrupt these long-established ties but also fragment a community that views itself as one.”
Further, Malinauskas, who has represented Croydon since 2018, listed five community and social groups with “Bowden Brompton” in their name as evidence of the suburbs’ connection.
He also said three school zones – Woodville High School, Brompton Primary School and Renown Park Children’s Centre for Early Childhood – capture both Bowden and Brompton but exclude Hindmarsh.
“I respectfully urge the Commission to reconsider its proposal to remove Bowden from the electorate,” Malinauskas said.
“Such a change would divide the close-knit Bowden Brompton community, and I believe it is in the best interest of both suburbs to keep them unified within the same electorate.”
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Koutsantonis, who has held West Torrens and its predecessor Peake for Labor since 1997, declined to comment.
Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis and Premier Peter Malinauskas would both represent parts of Brompton under the boundaries commission’s draft plan. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
On its current boundaries, Croydon is projected to have 30,555 voters by the 2026 state election.
The commission is constitutionally required to keep the size of each electorate within 10 per cent of 28,259 voters – known as the “quota” – with Croydon’s projected to be 8.1 per cent over quota by 2026.
West Torrens, meanwhile, is projected to have nearly 3500 fewer voters than Croydon and be 4 per cent under quota by the next election.
This imbalance prompted the commission to propose shifting Bowden and Brompton. Under the revised boundaries, the Premier’s seat is only projected to be 1.7 per cent over quota.
Malinauskas was not the only person to raise concerns with the commission’s Croydon proposal; 11 of the 21 written responses to the commission’s draft report take issue with the Bowden-Brompton split.
One Labor source said another concern at play was the seat of West Torrens could one day become more attractive to the Greens if its boundaries keep shifting around the park lands.
The Greens’ strongest polling booths in West Torrens and Croydon are near the city: the minor party recorded a 24.7 per cent primary vote in Mile End – part of West Torrens – and 21.6 per cent in Brompton, finishing second ahead of the Liberal Party in both polling booths.
Overall, the Greens are still around 10 points behind the Liberal Party in Croydon and West Torrens.
The Labor Party has asked the commission to adopt a different approach to deal with Croydon’s growing population, arguing that splitting Bowden and Brompton would “degrade the rich history of the communities that dates back to 1863”.
The party instead suggested that Croydon’s “other borders” should be retracted “in the near future to comply with quota”.
It also posed an alternative solution whereby West Torrens gains a portion of Beverley from the seat of Cheltenham, held by Labor Minister Joe Szakacs.
The boundaries commission is a three-member panel chaired by Justice Bampton alongside Electoral Commissioner Mick Sherry and Surveyor-General Bradley Slape.
Commission secretary David Gully said the commissioners will be “going through all the submissions and giving them due consideration”.
“Once they’ve had a chance to go through that, the commission might determine whether it needs to hold any further hearings,” he said.
Gully said previous commissions have changed course after receiving feedback on their draft reports, while others have stuck with their original proposals.
The overall electoral map proposed in the draft report does not substantially weaken Labor’s position heading into the 2026 election, with the Liberal Party’s hopes for a favourable redraw of several marginal seats falling flat. The Opposition would need a swing upwards of five per cent at the next election to have any chance of forming government.
The commission must release its final boundaries determination by November 30.
