Psephos - Adam Carr's Election Archive

Adam Carr's Election Archive

Australian federal election, 2025
Division of Makin, South Australia

Named for: Hon Norman Makin (1889-1982), federal MP 1919-46, 1954-63, Speaker 1929-32


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North-eastern Adelaide: Modbury, Parafield, Pooraka, Salisbury Heights, Tea Tree Gully

Enrolment at 2019 election: 120,007
Enrolment at 2022 election: 123,112 (+02.7)
1999 republic referendum: No 58.3
2018 same-sex marriage survey: Yes 60.4
2023 Voice referendum: No 67.9

Sitting member: Tony Zappia (Labor): Elected 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022


2007 Labor majority over Liberal: 7.7%
2010 Labor majority over Liberal: 12.2%
2013 Labor majority over Liberal: 5.1%
2016 Labor majority over Liberal: 9.5%
2019 Labor majority over Liberal: 9.7%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 10.8%

Status: Fairly safe Labor
Labor two-party vote 1984-2022


  • 2022 results
  • Statistics and history

  • Announced candidates:

    Irena Zagladov
    Liberal Party
    Tony Zappia
    Australian Labor Party

    Division of Makin

    Makin was created at the 1984 redistribution, based in the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide, a socially mixed and always politically marginal area. It is a young, mortgage-belt electorate, with a high level of dwellings being purchased. Labor dominates the corridor of suburbs running from Gepps Cross to Salisbury Heights, while the territory to the east is more marginal. The Liberals have some strength in Hills suburbs like Tea Tree Gully and Golden Grove.

    Makin was won for Labor in 1984 by Peter Duncan, a long-serving former state minister with a high profile, who was a junior minister in the Keating government. Duncan was swept away in the Howard landslide of 1996, replaced by Trish Draper, a Howard favourite who entrenched herself in the seat in 1998 and 2001. After surviving a petty scandal involving her travel entitlements, she retired in 2007, and Labor won the seat and has held it since.

    Tony Zappia, Labor MP for Makin since 2007, was a fitness centre manager and Mayor of Salisbury before his election. He has remained on the backbench. The 2018 redistribution added strong Labor territory around Parafield, strengthening Labor's position. Zappia is now 72, but is apparently not intending to retire at the 2025 election. The Liberal candidate is Irena Zagladov, a marketing consultant and member of Tea Tree Gully Council.

    Boundaries following most recent redistribution:



    See full-size map of this Division



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