Waite is a single-member

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

for the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

. Named after Peter Waite, a 19th century entrepreneur and philanthropist, it covers 75.4 km² of suburbs and foothills in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

's inner south-east, taking in the suburbs of Belair, Blackwood,

Brown Hill Creek Brown Hill Creek, also known as ''Willawilla'' in the Kaurna language, is a watercourse flowing from the Adelaide Hills through in the inner south suburbs of the Adelaide metropolitan area, in the Australian state of South Australia. It is part ...

, Coromandel East, Coromandel Valley, Crafers West, Craigburn Farm, Eden Hills, Glenalta, Hawthorndene, Kingswood,

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Governance Lynton ...

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

, Netherby,

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

, Torrens Park, Urrbrae as well as part of

Upper Sturt Upper Sturt is a suburb in the inner south of Adelaide, South Australia. The suburb is nestled in the lower reaches of the Mount Lofty Ranges with the Western Half located in the City of Mitcham Local government in Australia, local government a ...

. Waite was created in the 1991 electoral distribution as a comfortably safe

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

seat, replacing the abolished district of

, the only single-member lower house seat anywhere throughout Australia to be won by the Democrats. At the 1993 election, Mitcham's last member, Liberal deputy leader Stephen Baker, easily retained it amid that year's decisive Liberal victory. Baker served as

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

from 1993 to 1997. Upon his retirement at the 1997 election, he was succeeded by

Martin Hamilton-Smith Martin Leslie James Hamilton-Smith (born 1 December 1953) is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Waite from the 1997 election until his retirement in 2018. First elected as a candidate ...

, who represented the seat as a member of the Liberal Party for 17 years holding several ministries and shadow ministries, and for a period was Leader of the Opposition. Two months after the 2014 election, Hamilton-Smith became an independent and held several ministries in the Weatherill Labor government. He retired at the 2018 election and was succeeded by

Sam Duluk Samuel John Duluk is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 2015 to 2022, representing Davenport until 2018 and then Waite. He was formerly a Liberal, but resigned to sit as an independe ...

, the former Liberal member for Davenport. Sam Duluk resigned from the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

to sit as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in 2020 after allegations of inappropriate behaviour. Duluk was defeated at the 2022 election by

Catherine Hutchesson Catherine Louise Hutchesson is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 state election, representing Waite. The constituency had been held by the Liberal Party for the ...

who won the seat for

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

for the first time in its history.

Members for Waite

Election results

Notes

References

ECSA profile for Waite: 2018

ABC profile for Waite: 2018

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waite 1993 establishments in Australia Electoral districts of South Australia