1977 South Australian state election

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1977 South Australian state election
Flag of South Australia.svg
  1975 17 September 1977 (1977-09-17) 1979  

All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
24 seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Don Dunstan 1968 crop.jpg David Tonkin.jpg
Leader Don Dunstan David Tonkin
Party Labor Liberal
Leader since1 June 196724 July 1975
Leader's seat Norwood Bragg
Seats before2321
Seats won2717
Seat changeIncrease2.svg4Decrease2.svg4
Popular vote383,831306,356
Percentage51.64%41.21%
SwingIncrease2.svg5.31Increase2.svg9.68
TPP 53.40%46.60%
TPP swingIncrease2.svg4.20Decrease2.svg4.20

 Third partyFourth party
 
DEM
NAT
Leader Robin Millhouse Peter Blacker
Party Democrats National
Leader's seat Mitcham Flinders
Seats before01
Seats won11
Seat changeIncrease2.svg1Steady2.svg
Popular vote25,85511,825
Percentage3.48%1.59%
SwingNewDecrease2.svg1.18

Premier before election

Don Dunstan
Labor

Elected Premier

Don Dunstan
Labor

State elections were held in South Australia on 17 September 1977. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan won a fourth term in government, defeating the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition David Tonkin.

Contents

Background

Parliamentary elections for the lower house of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1977. There was no election for Legislative Council; and as of 2020, this is the most recent South Australian election which has not been for both houses.

The Labor Party led by Don Dunstan, which had won the previous three elections in 1970, 1973 and 1975, defeated the Liberal Party of Australia opposition led by David Tonkin. It was the first time that a Labor government in South Australia had been re-elected for a fourth term, and would be the first nine-year-incumbent Labor government. This would be Dunstan's last election before resigning due to ill health in 1979.

This was the first election after the end of Playmander seat weighting where one vote one value was introduced. At the previous election some metropolitan seats still saw more than three times the number of voters than in some rural seats, despite most of the Playmander being abolished nearly a decade ago. The redistribution was the reason Dunstan called an early election. [1]

The Australian Democrats ran for the first time under a joint New LM-Australian Democrats ticket, winning an average 12.3 percent of the primary vote in the 12 electorates they contested, with former LCL MP Robin Millhouse retaining his seat of Mitcham, which he would hold until 1982.

Key dates

Results

Keith Russack stood as an Independent Liberal, but later joined the Liberal Party; giving the numbers: 27 Labor, 18 Liberal, 1 Country Party, 1 Australian Democrat.

A 1979 Norwood by-election was triggered as a result of Dunstan's resignation. Labor retained the seat on a considerably reduced majority.

South Australian state election, 17 September 1977 [2]
House of Assembly
<< 19751979 >>

Enrolled voters818,341
Votes cast764,077 Turnout 93.37-0.19
Informal votes20,743Informal2.71-1.14
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
  Labor 383,83151.64+5.3127+ 4
  Liberal 306,35641.21+9.6817– 3
  Democrats 25,8553.48*1– 1
  National Country 11,8551.59-1.181± 0
  Independent Liberal 10,7931.45*1+ 1
  Independent 2,9140.39-0.510– 1
 Other1,7300.23*0± 0
Total743,334  47 
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 396,95753.40+4.20
  Liberal 346,37246.60–4.20

Seats changing party representation

This table lists changes in party representation at the 1977 election.

SeatIncumbent memberPartyNew memberParty
Baudin New seat  Don Hopgood  Labor
Frome Ernest Allen  LiberalSeat abolished 
Gouger Keith Russack* LiberalSeat abolished 
Goyder David Boundy* Liberal Keith Russack  Independent
Hartley New seat  Des Corcoran  Labor
Heysen David Wotton* LiberalSeat abolished 
Millicent Murray Vandepeer  LiberalSeat abolished 
Mitcham Robin Millhouse* Liberal Movement Robin Millhouse  Democrats
Morphett New seat  Terry Groom  Labor
Napier New seat  Terry Hemmings  Labor
Newland New seat  John Klunder  Labor
Pirie Ted Connelly* LaborSeat abolished 
Tea Tree Gully Molly Byrne* LaborSeat abolished 
Todd New seat  Molly Byrne  Labor

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (27)
Marginal
Morphett Terry Groom ALP0.3%
Fairly safe
Mawson Leslie Drury ALP6.5%
Todd Molly Byrne ALP6.5%
Brighton Hugh Hudson ALP8.1%
Henley Beach Glen Broomhill ALP9.3%
Newland John Klunder ALP9.8%
Safe
Unley Gil Langley ALP10.1%
Norwood Don Dunstan ALP10.2%
Hartley Des Corcoran ALP10.4%
Mitchell Ron Payne ALP11.4%
Ascot Park Geoff Virgo ALP12.5%
Gilles Jack Slater ALP12.8%
Albert Park Charles Harrison ALP14.1%
Playford Terry McRae ALP15.1%
Adelaide Jack Wright ALP16.2%
Baudin Don Hopgood ALP16.7%
Florey Charles Wells ALP17.0%
Peake Don Simmons ALP17.4%
Price George Whitten ALP19.4%
Salisbury Reg Groth ALP19.5%
Napier Terry Hemmings ALP21.0%
Ross Smith John Bannon ALP22.2%
Semaphore Jack Olson ALP22.2%
Elizabeth Peter Duncan ALP22.4%
Whyalla Max Brown ALP23.2%
Stuart Gavin Keneally ALP23.9%
Spence Roy Abbott ALP27.3%
Liberal seats (17)
Marginal
Coles Jennifer Adamson LIB1.4%
Mount Gambier Harold Allison LIB1.4%
Torrens Michael Wilson LIB2.5%
Hanson Heini Becker LIB5.4%
Eyre Graham Gunn LIB5.9%
Fairly safe
Rocky River Howard Venning LIB8.2%
Glenelg John Mathwin LIB9.5%
Chaffey Peter Arnold LIB9.6%
Murray David Wotton LIB10.0%
Safe
Fisher Stan Evans LIB10.4%
Light Bruce Eastick LIB10.7%
Bragg David Tonkin LIB15.3%
Victoria Allan Rodda LIB15.3%
Kavel Roger Goldsworthy LIB18.7%
Alexandra Ted Chapman LIB19.8%
Mallee Bill Nankivell LIB23.8%
Davenport Dean Brown LIB24.2%
Crossbench seats (3)
Mitcham Robin Millhouse DEM6.5% v LIB
Goyder Keith Russack IND7.9% v LIB
Flinders Peter Blacker NCP24.2% v LIB

See also

References

Specific
  1. History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 1, Dean Jaensch, Electoral Commission of SA
  2. "Details of SA 1977 Election". Australian Politics and Elections Database.