SA Libs blasted by former leader

South Australian Liberal turncoat Martin Hamilton-Smith has taken aim at his former party, saying a lack of policy development is to blame for its failure to win government.

The Liberals want a redistribution of electoral boundaries after languishing in opposition since 2002 despite winning a majority of the two-party preferred vote at three of the past four elections.

But Mr Hamilton-Smith, a former Liberal leader who defected to become an independent cabinet minister in the state Labor government in 2014, says the Liberals' flawed campaigning is to blame.

In a written submission to SA's Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, Mr Hamilton-Smith says it is almost impossible to ensure the most popular party wins government.

He says the Liberals have failed on a number of fronts, including "the lack of a party platform, confusion over party values, an absence of cogent and targeted policy development, and flawed marginal seat campaigning".

"The SA Liberal Party have subsequently criticised the commission for their failure to be able to form government," he wrote.

"I believe it would be helpful for the commission to have a better understanding of why, in my opinion, the SA Liberal Party have consistently misdirected their election efforts."

The Liberals want the commission to prevent seats from being considered notionally Liberal if the local MP sides with Labor, as happened with Mr Hamilton-Smith and several other independents.

This could allow the boundaries to be re-drawn in a way more favourable to the opposition.

In its submission the Labor government has called for only minimal changes, if any.

It said it was impossible for the commission to guarantee the party that wins the popular vote is able to form government because it cannot forecast how people will vote in an election.

University of Adelaide political scientist Clem Macintyre has said the state's geographical gulfs have reinforced a concentration of Labor voters in metropolitan Adelaide.

"Perhaps the only way to minimise future "wrong" electoral outcomes would be to undertake a major re-throw of all (or at least the metropolitan) boundaries," he wrote.