Geoffrey Graeme Brock (born 1950) is an Australian politician. He is 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 ...

member in 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 South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

, representing the seat of Stuart since the

2022 South Australian state election The 2022 South Australian state election was held on 19 March 2022 to elect members to the 55th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly (the lower house, whose members were elected at the 2018 election), and half t ...

. Prior to this, he represented the seat of

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

from the 2009 Frome by-election until a redistribution leading up to the 2022 state election. Brock has served as the Minister for Local Government, Minister for Regional Roads and Minister for Veterans Affairs in the Malinauskas

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 la ...

cabinet since March 2022, and is one of the two regional ministers in the cabinet. Brock was previously the Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Local Government in the Weatherill Labor cabinet from 2014 until Labor's defeat at the 2018 election.

Background

Brock had worked in

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South A ...

's lead smelter, which was eventually acquired by

Nyrstar Nyrstar is a global multi-metals business, with a market leading position in zinc and lead and growing positions in other base and precious metals, such as copper, gold and silver. Nyrstar has mining and smelting operations located in Europe, North ...

, since arriving in the town in 1976. He was first elected to the

Port Pirie Regional Council The Port Pirie Regional Council (PPRC) is a local government area in South Australia, focused on the city of Port Pirie. It has a population of about 18,000 people. The council's main administrative facilities and works depot can be found in Por ...

(at that time a City Council) in 1989, and served on numerous community committees before being elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

in May 2003, defeating sitting mayor Ken Madigan by 3,297 votes to 2,173. He retired from Nyrstar in September 2007, and he and his second wife Lyn have 12 grandchildren between them.

Political career

2009 Frome by-election

Brock had a shock win at the 2009 Frome state by-election, defeating the

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 ...

candidate Terry Boylan. He had a high local profile prior to the election, having served for almost six years as council mayor. Independent Senator

Nick Xenophon Nick Xenophon ( Nicholas Xenophou; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician and lawyer who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017. He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon ...

also campaigned for Brock. On 23.6 percent of the primary vote and 51.7 percent of the

two-candidate-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

vote, Brock's election depended on preferences from

Nationals SA The National Party of Australia (S.A.) Inc. is a political party in South Australia, and an affiliated state party of the National Party of Australia. Like the National Party of Western Australia, it is an independent party and not part of the Li ...

, and the

SA Greens Australian Greens SA is a green political party located in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a member of the federation of the Australian Greens party. The party has four members in the federal and state parliaments: Sarah Hanson-Y ...

, the former two having placed him second on their how-to-vote card. His own how-to-vote card saw him preference the Nationals, Labor, Liberal, Greens, and One Nation, in that order. The by-election was closely contested, with the result being uncertain for over a week. Initial reports suggested a slight swing to the Liberal candidate Terry Boylan on the

two-party-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

count against Labor, with Brock close behind Labor. By 21 January 2009, both the ABC's Antony Green and the state electoral office were indicating a 2-point swing against the Liberals toward Labor on 51.4 percent, but not enough to lose the seat. Liberal leader

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 ...

claimed victory on behalf of the party. However, the result hinged on the performance of Brock against Labor in the competition for second place. Brock won the primary vote in the Port Pirie area and picked up enough National and Green preferences to overtake the Labor candidate for second place by 30 votes. He then picked up enough Labor preferences to take the seat off the Liberals on a two-candidate-preferred vote of 51.7 percent (a majority of 665 votes), despite a slight improvement in the Liberal vote since the previous count.

Parliamentary service

At the 2010 election, Brock increased his primary vote to 37.7 percent and two-candidate vote to 57.5 percent. Labor won from the Liberals the two-party-preferred vote on 50.1 percent. At the 2014 election, Brock increased his primary vote to 45.2 percent and two-candidate vote to 58.8 percent. The election resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...

with 23

seats, 22

seats, and two independents. The balance of power was held by

crossbench A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

independents Brock and

Bob Such Robert Bruce Such (2 June 194411 October 2014) was a South Australian politician. He was the member for the seat of Fisher in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1989 until his death in 2014. He defeated Labor MP Philip Tyler at the 1 ...

. Such did not indicate who he would support in a minority government before he was diagnosed and hospitalised with a brain tumour and took medical leave one week after the election.

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

Professor and political commentator Clem Macintyre said Such's situation virtually guaranteed Brock would side with Labor. With 24 seats required to govern, Brock backed Labor. Macintyre said:

If Geoff Brock had gone with the Liberals, then the Parliament would have effectively been tied 23 to 23, so once Bob Such became ill and stepped away then Geoff Brock, I think had no choice but to side with Labor.

Brock accepted the cabinet positions of Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Local Government in the

Weatherill Ministry The Weatherill Ministry was the 72nd Ministry of the Government of South Australia, led by Jay Weatherill of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. It commenced on 21 October 2011, when Weatherill succeeded Mike Rann as Prem ...

. In return, Brock agreed to support the Labor government on

confidence and supply In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house. A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of par ...

while retaining the right to otherwise vote on conscience. A few months later, Labor achieved majority government when

Nat Cook Natalie Fleur Cook is an Australian politician and anti-violence campaigner. She became an anti-violence campaigner after the death of her son in a one-punch attack in 2008. Cook is a Labor member of the South Australian House of Assembly, r ...

won the 2014 Fisher by-election which was triggered by the death of Such. Despite this, Weatherill kept Brock and another independent minister

in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority. Brock held the ministerial portfolios until Labor lost government in the 2018 election. He retained the seat of Frome with a small increase in his primary vote. A redistribution in 2020 transferred parts of seat of Frome to the seat of Stuart. In the areas transferred from Frome to Stuart, including

where Brock was based in, Brock had polled 65% of the first preference vote and 75% after preferences in the 2018 election, while the rest of Frome was dominantly Liberal Party voting. It was no longer feasible for Brock to contest Frome with the new boundaries, so instead, he decided to contest for the seat of Stuart at the 2022 election. Brock was successful in his transfer, defeating incumbent member and

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Dan van Holst Pellekaan Daniel Cornelius van Holst Pellekaan is a former Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Stuart for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2010 state election until he l ...

. Labor formed government in the election and Brock was again appointed to the Malinauskas Labor ministry as an Independent minister, serving as the Minister for Local Government for the second time, as well as Minister for Regional Roads and Minister for Veterans Affairs. He said he had not expected a ministerial position, and the offer by new Premier

Peter Malinauskas Peter Bryden Malinauskas ( ; born 14 August 1980) is an Australian politician, serving as the 47th and current premier of South Australia since March 2022. He has been the leader of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party (AL ...

two days before the swearing-in ceremony came as "a heck of a shock". He emphasised that "he was not a Labor minister, but would vote with cabinet on decisions made by it", and Malinauskas said that Brock's independent would be "maintained and utterly respected". Brock was one of the two regional cabinet ministers, the other being

Clare Scriven Clare Michele Scriven is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the South Australian Legislative Council since the 2018 state election. Scriven was raised in Mount Gambier, before living and working in Adelaide for the Austr ...

References

External links