Information about the South Australian federal redistribution

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act) outlines the redistribution processes.

Why is South Australia undergoing a redistribution?

South Australia will undergo a redistribution as more than seven years has elapsed since the last redistribution was determined.

For a state, the Electoral Act specifies that a redistribution process should be undertaken in the following circumstances:

the number of members of the House of Representatives to which a state is entitled has changed, or
the number of electors in more than one-third of the electorates in a state deviates from the average enrolment across electorates in the state by over 10 per cent for a period of more than two months, or
a period of seven years has elapsed since the last redistribution process was determined.

How many federal electorates will there be after the redistribution?

In accordance with the 2023 determination of entitlement to members of the House of Representatives, South Australia remains entitled to 10 electorates.

Will the boundaries of the current federal electorates change?

Federal electorates are required to fall within two numerical ranges:

the number of electors enrolled in each federal electorate on the determination date must be between minus 10 per cent and plus 10 per cent of the redistribution quota
as far as practicable, the projected number of electors enrolled in each federal electorate at the projection time would be between minus 3.5 per cent and plus 3.5 per cent of the projected enrolment quota.

On the boundaries in place on 12 August 2025, four of South Australia’s 10 federal electorates did not meet the requirement to be within these two numerical ranges.

Electorate	Enrolment as at 12 August 2025		Projected enrolment at 8 April 2030		Is the numerical requirement met?
Electorate	Enrolment	Percentage variation from the redistribution quota	Projected enrolment	Percentage variation from the projected enrolment quota	Is the numerical requirement met?
Adelaide	130,638	-0.11%	135,319	-0.74%	Yes
Barker	128,035	-2.10%	131,186	-3.78%	No
Boothby	128,867	-1.47%	133,351	-2.19%	Yes
Grey	129,724	-0.81%	132,595	-2.74%	Yes
Hindmarsh	130,799	0.01%	137,208	0.64%	Yes
Kingston	128,141	-2.02%	133,610	-2.00%	Yes
Makin	123,230	-5.78%	125,587	-7.88%	No
Mayo	139,164	6.41%	147,436	8.14%	No
Spence	139,392	6.58%	153,055	12.27%	No
Sturt	129,873	-0.70%	133,986	-1.72%	Yes

Further information on the numerical ranges can be found here: Redistribution and projected enrolment quotas.

What is the result of requirement not being met?

As it is a legislative requirement to be within both of the specified ranges is not met by all 10 of South Australia’s federal electorates, the boundaries of these electorates will need to change. Changes may also be made to those electorates which meet the requirement as a consequence of changes to the boundaries of electorates which do not meet the requirement.

Will the names of the current federal electorates change?

The names of the current federal electorates may or may not change.

Individuals and organisations can propose alternative names for electorates at two stages of the redistribution process:

Initial ideas and feedback
Ideas and feedback on the proposed redistribution report

The Redistribution Committee for South Australia will consider all input received. The Redistribution Committee for South Australia will indicate in its proposed redistribution whether it has or has not proposed changing the name of a federal electorate, together with reasons for the proposal.

Individuals and organisations can then provide feedback to the Redistribution Committee on South Australia’s proposed names. Feedback may agree or disagree with the Redistribution Committee’s proposal. Input received advocating a change of name for a federal electorate will be also be considered by the augmented Electoral Commission for South Australia. The augmented Electoral Commission for South Australia is ultimately responsible for determining the names of the federal electorates in South Australia.

Information about the names of current federal electorates in South Australia

How do current electorate names meet the guidelines for naming electorates?

The Guidelines for naming federal electorates were developed by the AEC from recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in 1995 in its Report on the Effectiveness and Appropriateness of the Redistribution Provisions of Parts III and IV of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. These guidelines are non-binding but may be referred to by the Redistribution Committee for South Australia or the augmented Electoral Commission for South Australia to assist with decision-making processes.

The extent to which the names of South Australia’s current federal electorates meet these guidelines is displayed below. The electorates are sortable by clicking on the header row.

Electorate	Is the electorate named for a prominent person?	Is the electorate named for an Australian Prime Minister?	Is the electorate name that of an original Federation electorate?	Is the electorate named for a geographical feature?	Is the electorate named for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person or word?
Adelaide	No	No	No	Yes	No
Barker	Yes	No	No	No	No
Boothby	Yes	No	No	No	No
Grey	Yes	No	No	No	No
Hindmarsh	Yes	No	No	No	No
Kingston	Yes	No	No	No	No
Makin	Yes	No	No	No	No
Mayo	Yes	No	No	No	No
Spence	Yes	No	No	No	No
Sturt	Yes	No	No	No	No

Origins of name

The Electorate of Adelaide is named for the city of Adelaide which in turn was named after Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV.