Frome is an electoral district of the House of Assembly in the Australian state of South Australia. It is named after E. C. Frome, the third surveyor-general of South Australia. The electorate is based around the industrial city of Port Pirie and the agriculture areas of Clare and Gilbert Valleys. It covers a total of 6,889.7km² and takes in the towns of Auburn, Clare, Crystal Brook, Gladstone, Laura, Mintaro, Penwortham, Port Broughton, Port Pirie, Snowtown, Tarlee and Riverton. Frome has existed in three incarnations throughout the history of the House of Assembly: as a multi-member marginal electorate from 1884 to 1902, as a Labor-dominated electorate from 1938 to 1977, and as a marginal seat turned moderately safe seat for the Liberal Party of Australia since 1993. The first incarnation was, like the rest of the state, independent-held until the development of the party system until in the 1890s. The two seats were split evenly with a conservative and a liberal member from 1890 until the seat's abolition in 1902. It was later recreated in 1938 as a Labor-dominated seat, and was won by Mick O'Halloran, who served as Opposition Leader from 1949 until his death in 1960. Though O'Halloran was personally popular, his margin in Frome had been boosted further by the "Playmander", Premier Thomas Playford's gerrymander. Ten years after O'Halloran's death, Playford decided to end the Playmander, and though the Labor Party won the election, Frome fell to Playford's Liberal and Country League. Frome was subsequently retained by the Liberal Party until its re-abolition in 1977. Frome was again revived at the 1991 redistribution as a marginal seat, with the staunchly Labor-voting industrial city of Port Pirie balanced by the inclusion of large rural areas. It was first contested at the 1993 election and was won by Liberal candidate Rob Kerin. Kerin held a vulnerable majority throughout the 1990s, but was guarded by the presence of a relatively popular Liberal government in Adelaide. This changed dramatically when Kerin suddenly became Premier of South Australia in 2001 after John Olsen was forced to resign for having misled parliament. Although his premiership was short-lived, as he narrowly lost the 2002 election, it raised his profile dramatically, resulting in an 8.3% swing in his favour in Frome. Kerin is no longer the Opposition leader, after the Liberal Party lost the 2006 election, however it seems unlikely that he will have any difficulties holding Frome as long as he remains in parliament. It is unclear whether Frome will revert to being marginal or remain a safe Liberal seat after Kerin retires.
