Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Grey, South Australia

Named for: Sir George Grey (1812-98), Governor of South Australia 1841-45 (later Governor and Prime Minister of New Zealand)


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Outback South Australia: Kadina, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Whyalla

Enrolment at 2019 election: 119,957
Enrolment at 2022 election: 123,620 (+00.7)
1999 republic referendum: No 67.7
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 53.3
2023 Voice referendum: No 79.4

Sitting member: Rowan Ramsey (Liberal): Elected 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022. Retiring 2025


2007 Liberal majority over Labor: 4.4%
2010 Liberal majority over Labor: 11.2%
2013 Liberal majority over Labor: 13.5%
2016 Liberal majority over NXT: 2.0%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 13.3%
2019 Liberal majority over Labor: 10.1%

Staus: Fairly safe Liberal


Liberal two-party vote 1983-2022


  • 2022 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Announced candidates:

    Tom Venning
    Liberal Party

    Division of Grey

    Grey has existed since South Australia was first divided into electorates in 1903, occupying most of the northern part of South Australia. Originally a largely pastoral and farming seat, Grey later came to be dominated by the "iron triangle" of mining and smelting towns - Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie - and was a fairly safe Labor seat for many years. The decline of those industries, the decline of the rural working class, and boundary changes which have extended the seat southwards into farming areas such as the Yorke Peninsula, have turned Grey back into a fairly safe Liberal seat in recent years.

    Grey has among the country's lowest median family income levels, and also a low proportion of non English speaking households. It has a high proportion of people engaged in agriculture, mainly on the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas. There is a substantial Indigenous population in the northern areas of the seat. Although Whyalla is the largest town in the electorate, and still votes solidly Labor, it is now outvoted by the rural parts of the seat. In most of the small rural booths the Liberals get more than 80% of the two-party vote.

    Barry Wakelin won Grey for the Liberals in 1993, after the retirement of Lloyd O'Neil, the last Labor member. He held it without difficulty until his own retirement in 2007. There was a large swing to Labor at that election, but not enough for Labor to win.

    Rowan Ramsey, Liberal MP for Grey since 2007, was a farmer at Kimba before his election. He has been an inconspicuous backbencher but had no trouble retaining this seat until 2016, when he was held to a 2.0% majority by the Xenophon Team candidate. With the bursting of the Nick Xenophon bubble, the seat returned to its normal voting pattern in 2019. Ramsey will retire at the 2025 election. The new Liberal candidate will be Tom Venning, a farmer and nephew of state Liberal MP Ivan Venning.

    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



    See full-size map of this Division



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