SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ELECTION 2010

MORPHETT Liberal 3.6%
Region: Western Suburbs Federal divisions: Hindmarsh/Boothby
	HELEN ZAFIRIOU Family First DUNCAN McFETRIDGE Liberal (top) JACK ROBINS Greens TIM LOOKER Labor (bottom)
Electoral District Boundaries Commission map

Dominated by the fashionable coastal hub of Glenelg, the electorate of Morphett now extends inland to Morphettville, which it has gained from Elder in the redistribution. Coastal North Brighton and Somerton Park have been transferred to Bright to reduce the Labor margin in the latter in line with electoral fairness requirements, with Morphett maintaining the interior suburb of Warradale as an awkward southern spur. The changes have cut the Liberal margin from 5.5 per cent to 3.6 per cent. A seat called Glenelg existed until 1985, concurrently after 1977 with Morphett which was then based on Brighton to the south. Morphett was held for its first term by Labor's Terry Groom (later to return in Hartley), whose loss to Liberal candidate John Oswald was a crucial factor in David Tonkin's 1979 election victory. Labor ceased to be competitive when the electorate moved into territory vacated by the abolition of Glenelg, and they picked up a relatively mild 5.0 per cent swing in 2006.

Oswald was succeeded upon his retirement in 2002 by Duncan McFetridge, a former country school teacher and veterinary surgeon. McFetridge won quick promotion to the shadow consumer affairs and local government portfolios in April 2004, and was said to be courting leadership ambitions. He was moved to education and children's services after the election, and his responsibilities were frequently rearranged thereafter. During post-election leadership jockeying he was said to be part of a “conservative core” that was dissatisfied with the proposed leadership unity ticket of the Right's Iain Evans and moderate Vickie Chapman, preferring Martin Hamilton-Smith or Isobel Redmond to Chapman as deputy. He supported Hamilton-Smith's leadership challenge against Evans in April 2007, but called for him to stand aside after he survived Chapman's July 2009 leadership challenge by one vote. McFetridge then stood for the deputy leadership vacated by Chapman, but finished third behind Mitch Williams (MacKillop) and the successful Steven Griffiths (Goyder). His subsequent promotion to the health portfolio drew a congratulatory tweet from Mike Rann, who said McFetridge was his “favourite vet” for having saved his daughter's axolotl.

Labor has again nominated its candidate from 2006, Holdfast Bay councillor and former deputy mayor Tim Looker, who received a Medal in the Order of Australia for services to the community in 2003.

PREDICTION: Liberal retain