Vote: Goyder Hartley. While Hammond extends far to the east of Lake Alexandrina, most of the population of the electorate lies along or to the west of the Murray River south of Mannum and north of Lake Alexandrina. Loses around 2, voters in the east of the electorate to Chaffey with the transfer of the Karoonda East Murray and Southern Mallee regional councils. The Liberal margin declines from The electorate is named after Ruby Florence Hammond , who spent many years working for the advancement of the state's aboriginal population.
This electorate with major population centre at Murray Bridge has gone by many names in recent decades, as Murray-Mallee , Ridley at the election and Hammond since In these different guises it was represented from until by Peter Lewis. Originally elected as a Liberal, Lewis was always a loose cannon in the party, finally expelled from the Liberal caucus in after one too many attacks on the party leadership.
He was re-elected as an Independent on Labor preferences at the election, one of the critical cross-bench members with the fate of the next government in their hands. Given his conservative background, it was a shock when Lewis announced he would take the Speaker's position and support the formation of a Rann Labor government.
It was even more of a surprise to Liberal negotiators, who thought Lewis had agreed to a deal backing a Liberal government.
Lewis's time in the Speaker's chair was controversial, but the parliamentary numbers meant his eccentric ways had to be tolerated by the government. Lewis's presence often goaded the Liberal opposition to attack Lewis rather than the government. In the mean time, the Rann government courted the other Independents to shore up its parliamentary position, and the government finally tired of Lewis in when he made unsubstantiated claims of a Minister being associated with police officers in a paedophile ring.
