State South Australia MP Michael Pengilly Demographic Rural Member of parliament Michael Pengilly Namesake B. T. Finniss | Created 1993 Electors 24,557 (2014) Founded 1993 Elector 24,557 | |
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Area 5,875 km (2,268.4 sq mi) Party Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) | ||
Finniss is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after B. T. Finniss, the first Premier of South Australia. It covers a 5,875 km² regional area which includes Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Peninsula, and the towns of Kingscote, Middleton, Mount Compass, Penneshaw, Port Elliot, Sellicks Beach, Victor Harbor and Yankalilla.
Finniss has been a very safe seat for the Liberal Party of Australia since its creation at the 1991 electoral redistribution as a replacement for the equally safe Alexandra. It was contested for the first time at the 1993 election by newly elected Liberal leader Dean Brown, who had returned to parliament after a seven-year absence by winning the 1992 Alexandra state by-election. Brown had little difficulty winning Finniss, and subsequently became Premier after the election. Brown was later toppled as Premier by Liberal rival John Olsen in 1996, and was initially expected to retire, but remained in parliament as a senior member of consecutive Liberal ministries and shadow ministries, and served as deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2001 to 2005--the first six months of that tenure as Deputy Premier. Brown retired at the 2006 election, and was succeeded by Liberal candidate Michael Pengilly, who held off a concerted attempt by the SA Nationals to take the seat.
Most of Finniss is located within the Nick Xenophon Team-held federal Division of Mayo.