Electoral District of Fisher

Electoral District Of Fisher

Fisher is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after James Fisher, a colonial politician and the first mayor of Adelaide. It covers a 29.2 km² suburban and semi rural area on the southern fringes of Adelaide, taking in the suburbs of Aberfoyle Park, Happy Valley, Coromandel Valley, Cherry Gardens, Clarendon, Reynella East and parts of Chandlers Hill, Flagstaff Hill and O'Halloran Hill.

Before the 1983 electoral redistribution, Fisher took in the Blackwood area and was a safe Liberal seat, held by Stan Evans. The redistribution turned it into a marginal "mortgage belt" seat, and it was subsequently won by Philip Tyler for the Australian Labor Party at the 1985 election. It fell to the Liberal Party of Australia's Bob Such at the 1989 election with Such taking 12,361 votes to Tania Farell's 8306, making it a fairly safe Liberal seat. Such substantially increased his margin four years later amidst Dean Brown's massive Liberal landslide victory. Changes in demographics during the 1990s made the seat relatively safe for the Liberal Party, but they lost control of the seat when Such resigned to sit as an independent in October 2000, and successfully retained his seat as an independent at the 2002 election. He subsequently retained his seat with another strong swing in his favour at the 2006 election, despite early reports that the seat may fall to either the Labor or Liberal parties. The outcome of the 2006 election saw Such face former President of Australian Young Labor and a local candidate who had been born in the electorate, Amanda Rishworth on the two party preferred vote as opposed to a Liberal candidate in 2002. Amanda Rishworth went on to win the Federal Seat of Kingston which takes in suburbs to the south west of Fisher.

At the 2010 election, Bob Such faced a Liberal Candidate and former Liberal Party President Christopher Moriarty on a two party preferred basis.