{{distinguish|Electoral district of Spence}} {{short description|Australian federal electoral division}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}} {{Infobox Australian Electorate | federal = yes | name = Spence | image = {{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|from=Australian Federal Electorates/South Australia (2019)/Spence.map|frame-height=300|frame-width=400|overlay=x100px|overlay-horizontal-alignment=right|overlay-vertical-alignment=bottom}} | caption = Interactive map of boundaries since the 2019 federal election | created = 2019 | mp = Matt Burnell | mp-party = Labor | namesake = Catherine Helen Spence | electors = 138,092 | electors_year = 2025 | electors_footnotes = | area = 532 | class = Outer metropolitan | coordinates = {{coord|34.7|S|138.7|E|region:AU-SA|display=inline,title}} | near-n = Grey | near-ne = Barker | near-e = | near-se = Mayo | near-s = Makin | near-sw = Hindmarsh | near-w = | near-nw = | footnotes = }} The '''Division of Spence''' is an electoral district for the Australian House of Representatives. It is located in the outer northern suburbs of Adelaide in South Australia.

==Geography== Federal electoral division boundaries in Australia are determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Australian Electoral Commission. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muller |first1=Damon |title=The process of federal redistributions: a quick guide |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/FederalRedistributions |website=Parliament of Australia |access-date=19 April 2022 |date=14 November 2017 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523135724/https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/Quick_Guides/FederalRedistributions |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History== [[File:Catherine Helen Spence.jpg|thumb|Catherine Helen Spence, the division's namesake]] It is named in honour of Catherine Helen Spence, an advocate for female suffrage and electoral reform and the first female political candidate in Australia.<ref name="profile">{{cite web |url=https://aec.gov.au/profiles/sa/spence.htm |title=Profile of the electoral division of Spence (SA) |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |date=20 July 2018 |access-date=28 July 2018 |archive-date=28 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728191516/https://aec.gov.au/profiles/sa/spence.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Spence was created in the electoral redistribution that concluded in July 2018 as a replacement for the Division of Wakefield. It is essentially the more urbanised southern portion of the formerly hybrid urban-rural Wakefield. The Division of Port Adelaide was abolished after South Australia was reduced from 11 electorates to ten, resulting in quite large movements of the remaining divisions' boundaries to fill in the gap.<ref name="Redistribution">{{cite web |url=https://aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2017/sa/proposed-report/files/sa-proposed-redistribution-april-2018.pdf |title=Proposed redistribution of South Australia into electoral divisions |work=Report of the Redistribution Committee for South Australia |date=April 2018 |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |access-date=28 July 2018 |archive-date=27 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427095657/https://www.aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2017/sa/proposed-report/files/sa-proposed-redistribution-april-2018.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The geographic extent of Spence is approximately the Adelaide Plains between the Little Para River in the south and the Gawler River on the north, plus areas around Gawler and Salisbury. It includes all of the City of Playford and Town of Gawler, along with Concordia and Kalbeeba from the Barossa Council, and Gawler Belt and Buchfelde from Light Regional Council on the outskirts of Gawler. Spence includes six suburbs in the City of Salisbury south of the Little Para River, west and north of Main North Road and Kings Road.<ref>{{cite map |url=https://aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2017/sa/final-report/files/maps-a4/2018-AEC-SA-A4-Spence-Final.pdf |title=Map of the Federal Electoral Division of Spence |date=July 2018 |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |access-date=28 July 2018 |archive-date=11 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311125533/https://aec.gov.au/Electorates/Redistributions/2017/sa/final-report/files/maps-a4/2018-AEC-sa-A4-Spence-Final.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Spence overlaps the final configuration of Bonython before it was abolished prior to the 2004 election<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/federal_elections/2001/files/2001/b/Bonython.pdf |title=Bonython boundary map, 2001: AEC |access-date=3 November 2018 |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410120246/https://aec.gov.au/Elections/federal_elections/2001/files/2001/b/Bonython.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and much of it was merged with what had been the southern part of Wakefield. Spence extends further east, west and north than Bonython at the time of its abolition, but Wakefield had historically been a rural seat until 2004.<ref name=abc>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal-redistribution-2018/sa/|title=2017-18 Federal Redistribution - South Australia|work=ABC Elections|date=26 June 2018|access-date=18 August 2018|archive-date=29 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729113143/http://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal-redistribution-2018/sa/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Spence was notionally a comfortably safe Labor seat, with a notional Labor margin of 17.9 percent, making it on paper the safest Labor seat in the state. By comparison, the abolished Wakefield finished with a safe Labor margin of 11.0 percent.<ref name=abc/> Champion retained it in 2019 with only a small swing against him. Spence is the safest Labor seat in SA, with a 14.1 percent swing needed for the Liberals to win it.

==Members== {| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! colspan=2 | Image ! Member ! Party ! Term ! Notes |- | {{Australian party style|Labor}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Nick Champion<br />{{small|(1972–)}} | rowspan="2" | Labor | nowrap | 18 May 2019 –<br/>23 February 2022 | Previously held the Division of Wakefield. Resigned to transfer to state politics. Subsequently elected to the South Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Taylor in 2022

|- | {{Australian party style|Labor}}|&nbsp; | 100px | Matt Burnell<br />{{small|(1978–)}} | nowrap | 21 May 2022 –<br/>present | Incumbent |}

==Election results== {{main|Electoral results for the Division of Spence}} {{Excerpt|Results of the 2025 Australian federal election in South Australia|section=Spence}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Australian federal divisions of South Australia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Division of}} Category:Electoral divisions of Australia Category:Electoral divisions of Australia in South Australia Category:Australian federal electoral divisions established in 2019