Division of Barker Information & Division of Barker Links at HealthHaven.com

Barker Australian House of Representatives Division
Created:	1903
MP:	Patrick Secker
Party:	Liberal
Namesake:	Collet Barker
Electors:	102,626
Area:	64,015 km² (24,716 sq mi)
Demographic:	Rural

The Division of Barker is an Australian Electoral Division in the south-east of South Australia.

The division was created in 1903 and is named for Collet Barker, an early explorer of the region at the mouth of the Murray River. It has always been based in the south-eastern rural areas of South Australia, centred on Bordertown and Mount Gambier, but in recent years its boundaries have been extended to the north to include Riverland towns such as Renmark. Barker has always been a safe seat for the conservative parties and, except for three years when Archie Cameron represented the Liberal and Country League, has been held continuously by the Liberal Party since that party's creation in 1944. The seat became particularly safe after the expansion of parliament in 1949 which removed the division's city territory around Glenelg. Its most prominent members have been Archie Cameron, a leader of the Country Party and later Speaker of the House and Ian McLachlan, a Cabinet minister in the Howard government.

[edit] Members

	Party	Term
Langdon Bonython	Protectionist	1903–1906
John Livingston	Anti-Socialist	1906–1909
	Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1916
	Nationalist	1916–1922
Malcolm Cameron	Liberal Union	1922–1925
	Nationalist	1925–1931
	United Australia	1931–1934
Archie Cameron	Country	1934–1940
	United Australia	1940–1944
	Liberal	1944–1951
	Liberal & Country	1951–1954
	Liberal	1954–1956
Jim Forbes	Liberal	1956–1975
James Porter	Liberal	1975–1990
Ian McLachlan	Liberal	1990–1998
Patrick Secker	Liberal	1998–present

[edit] Election results

Australian federal election, 2007: Barker
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Patrick Secker	44,329	46.81	-6.36
	Labor	Karen Lock	38,475	30.07	+8.60
	National	Deb Thiele	9,695	10.24	-0.35
	Family First	Phil Cornish	5,418	5.72	-0.10
	Greens	Andrew Jennings	4,796	5.06	+0.98
	Democrats	Justin Sneath	1,984	2.10	+0.62
Total formal votes			94,697	96.15	+2.02
Informal votes			3,793	3.85	-2.02
Turnout			98,490	95.97	+0.49
Two Candidate Preferred Result
	Liberal	Patrick Secker	56,301	59.45	-10.43
	Labor	Karen Lock	38,396	40.55	+10.43
	Liberal hold		Swing	-10.43

Australian federal election, 2004: Barker
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Patrick Secker	48,233	53.17	-2.95
	Labor	Waluwe Simpson-Lyttle	19,478	21.47	-2.01
	National	Tim Jackson	9,611	10.59	+10.59
	Family First	Philip Cornish	5,276	5.82	+5.82
	Greens	Pam Kelly	3,704	4.08	+0.98
	Independent	Rodger N Schmidt	1,572	1.73	+1.73
	One Nation	Neil Russell-Taylor	1,501	1.65	-6.24
	Democrats	Graham McNaughton	1,339	1.48	-4.66
Total formal votes			90,714	94.13	-0.34
Informal votes			5,662	5.87	+0.34
Turnout			96,376	95.48	-0.85
Two Candidate Preferred Result
	Liberal	Patrick Secker	63,392	69.88	+3.25
	Labor	Waluwe Simpson-Lyttle	27,322	30.12	-3.25
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.25

[edit] External links