Ex-MP Nicolle Flint’s rare comeback bid in key marginal seat of Boothby held by Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost

A high-profile former member who has never lost an election is up against the first Labor member since 1949 in the intriguing battle for the South Australian seat of Boothby.

With a margin of 3.3 per cent, the southern Adelaide seat is considered to be one of only two SA seats that could change hands this election.

Louise Miller-Frost won the seat in 2022, defeating Liberal Rachel Swift after two-term MP Nicolle Flint stepped back from politics.

Polling commissioned by AAP and modelled by YouGov puts Labor ahead on a two-party preferred basis on 52 per cent, compared to 48 per cent for the Liberals.

Labor has 32 per cent of the primary vote, with the coalition on 30 per cent and the Greens on 14 per cent.

Ms Flint won the seat in 2016 and 2019, but endometriosis was a major factor in her decision not to run in 2022.

She has said medication has had a “miracle” impact on her health, which has “never been better”, clearing the way for her to try to regain Boothby.

The return of a previous member who voluntarily stood down was unusual, University of Adelaide political analyst Clem Macintyre said.

“You don’t often see that in Australian politics,” he said.

He said there was a relevant factor of first-term MPs performing marginally stronger than the rest of their party, known as a “sophomore surge”.

“It might be all of one per cent, but in a tight seat that can be a valuable difference,” Professor Macintyre said.

“But the fact that the Libs pre-selected a previous member with a reasonably high profile might knock the edge off that.”

Boothby has a strong Liberal vote along the coast and affluent areas in the foothills and a large mortgage belt of Labor voters at its centre.

Ms Miller-Frost said the key issues she was hearing from voters were climate change, particularly in the context of energy transition, cost of living and housing “and the Labor government has a lot of strategies that aim to address all three of those things”.

“My career has always been about delivering for the community,” she said.

“I worked in health, delivering services as an executive and manager, I worked in local government, and then I worked in the not-for-profit sector, in housing and homelessness.”

She had been “delivering for the electorate at the macro level, things like the upgrade of the Flinders Medical Centre, some of the infrastructure projects ... the tram overpasses, the freight bypass”.

While she would not directly address her opponent, Ms Miller-Frost said “people understand that a vote for Nicolle Flint is a vote for Peter Dutton”.

Ms Flint was not available for an interview.

Prof Macintrye believed Labor would “hang on” in Boothby because the government was outperforming the opposition generally and there had been a long-term demographic shift in the seat.

“If I was the Liberal Party, I would be working hard on Boothby, but not optimistic,” he said.