 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly 24 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
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.
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] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 818,341 | |||||
| Votes cast | 764,077 | Turnout | 93.37 | -0.19 | ||
| Informal votes | 20,743 | Informal | 2.71 | -1.14 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 383,831 | 51.64 | +5.31 | 27 | + 4 | |
| Liberal | 306,356 | 41.21 | +9.68 | 17 | – 3 | |
| Democrats | 25,855 | 3.48 | * | 1 | – 1 | |
| National Country | 11,855 | 1.59 | -1.18 | 1 | ± 0 | |
| Independent Liberal | 10,793 | 1.45 | * | 1 | + 1 | |
| Independent | 2,914 | 0.39 | -0.51 | 0 | – 1 | |
| Other | 1,730 | 0.23 | * | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Total | 743,334 | 47 | ||||
| Two-party-preferred | ||||||
| Labor | 396,957 | 53.40 | +4.20 | |||
| Liberal | 346,372 | 46.60 | –4.20 | |||
This table lists changes in party representation at the 1977 election.
| Seat | Incumbent member | Party | New member | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baudin | New seat | Don Hopgood | Labor | |||
| Frome | Ernest Allen | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
| Gouger | Keith Russack* | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
| Goyder | David Boundy* | Liberal | Keith Russack | Independent | ||
| Hartley | New seat | Des Corcoran | Labor | |||
| Heysen | David Wotton* | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
| Millicent | Murray Vandepeer | Liberal | Seat 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* | Labor | Seat abolished | |||
| Tea Tree Gully | Molly Byrne* | Labor | Seat abolished | |||
| Todd | New seat | Molly Byrne | Labor | |||
| Labor seats (27) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Marginal | |||
| Morphett | Terry Groom | ALP | 0.3% |
| Fairly safe | |||
| Mawson | Leslie Drury | ALP | 6.5% |
| Todd | Molly Byrne | ALP | 6.5% |
| Brighton | Hugh Hudson | ALP | 8.1% |
| Henley Beach | Glen Broomhill | ALP | 9.3% |
| Newland | John Klunder | ALP | 9.8% |
| Safe | |||
| Unley | Gil Langley | ALP | 10.1% |
| Norwood | Don Dunstan | ALP | 10.2% |
| Hartley | Des Corcoran | ALP | 10.4% |
| Mitchell | Ron Payne | ALP | 11.4% |
| Ascot Park | Geoff Virgo | ALP | 12.5% |
| Gilles | Jack Slater | ALP | 12.8% |
| Albert Park | Charles Harrison | ALP | 14.1% |
| Playford | Terry McRae | ALP | 15.1% |
| Adelaide | Jack Wright | ALP | 16.2% |
| Baudin | Don Hopgood | ALP | 16.7% |
| Florey | Charles Wells | ALP | 17.0% |
| Peake | Don Simmons | ALP | 17.4% |
| Price | George Whitten | ALP | 19.4% |
| Salisbury | Reg Groth | ALP | 19.5% |
| Napier | Terry Hemmings | ALP | 21.0% |
| Ross Smith | John Bannon | ALP | 22.2% |
| Semaphore | Jack Olson | ALP | 22.2% |
| Elizabeth | Peter Duncan | ALP | 22.4% |
| Whyalla | Max Brown | ALP | 23.2% |
| Stuart | Gavin Keneally | ALP | 23.9% |
| Spence | Roy Abbott | ALP | 27.3% |
| Liberal seats (17) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Marginal | |||
| Coles | Jennifer Adamson | LIB | 1.4% |
| Mount Gambier | Harold Allison | LIB | 1.4% |
| Torrens | Michael Wilson | LIB | 2.5% |
| Hanson | Heini Becker | LIB | 5.4% |
| Eyre | Graham Gunn | LIB | 5.9% |
| Fairly safe | |||
| Rocky River | Howard Venning | LIB | 8.2% |
| Glenelg | John Mathwin | LIB | 9.5% |
| Chaffey | Peter Arnold | LIB | 9.6% |
| Murray | David Wotton | LIB | 10.0% |
| Safe | |||
| Fisher | Stan Evans | LIB | 10.4% |
| Light | Bruce Eastick | LIB | 10.7% |
| Bragg | David Tonkin | LIB | 15.3% |
| Victoria | Allan Rodda | LIB | 15.3% |
| Kavel | Roger Goldsworthy | LIB | 18.7% |
| Alexandra | Ted Chapman | LIB | 19.8% |
| Mallee | Bill Nankivell | LIB | 23.8% |
| Davenport | Dean Brown | LIB | 24.2% |
| Crossbench seats (3) | |||
| Mitcham | Robin Millhouse | DEM | 6.5% v LIB |
| Goyder | Keith Russack | IND | 7.9% v LIB |
| Flinders | Peter Blacker | NCP | 24.2% v LIB |
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time.
David Oliver Tonkin was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983. He became the leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1975, replacing Bruce Eastick. Initially leading the party to defeat at the 1977 election against the Don Dunstan Labor government, his party won the 1979 election against the Des Corcoran Labor government. Following the 1980 Norwood by-election the Tonkin government was reduced to a one-seat majority. His government's policy approach combined economic conservatism with social progressivism. The Tonkin Liberal government was defeated after one term at the 1982 election by Labor led by John Bannon.
Janine Winton Haines, AM was an Australian politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 1977 to 1978 and again from 1981 to 1990. She represented the Australian Democrats, and served as the party's leader from 1986 to 1990, becoming the first female federal parliamentary leader of an Australian political party. She was pivotal in "shaping the Australian Democrats into a powerful political entity that held the balance of power in the Senate".
Raymond Steele Hall is a former Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970. He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1977 and federal member for the Division of Boothby from 1981 to 1996.
The Liberal Movement (LM) was a South Australian political party which existed from 1973 to 1976, and was a forerunner to the Australian Democrats.
Heysen is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after Sir Hans Heysen, a prominent South Australian landscape artist. It is a 1,074 km² electoral district that takes in some of the outer southern suburbs of Adelaide before fanning south-east to include most of the Adelaide Hills, as well as farming areas some distance from the capital. It includes the localities of Aldgate, Ashbourne, Belvidere, Biggs Flat, Blackfellows Creek, Blewitt Springs, Bradbury, Bridgewater, Bugle Ranges, Bull Creek, Chapel Hill, Clarendon, Crafers, Dingabledinga, Dorset Vale, Echunga, Flaxley, Gemmells, Green Hills Range, Heathfield, Highland Valley, Hope Forest, Ironbank, Jupiter Creek, Kangarilla, Kuitpo, Kuitpo Colony, Kyeema, Longwood, Macclesfield, McHarg Creek, Meadows, Montarra, Mount Magnificent, Mylor, Paris Creek, Prospect Hill, Red Creek, Salem, Sandergrove, Scott Creek, Stirling, Strathalbyn, The Range, Willunga Hill, Willyaroo, Wistow, Woodchester, Yundi; as well as parts of Bletchley, Hartley, Onkaparinga Hills, Upper Sturt. Although geographically it is a hybrid urban-rural seat, it is counted as a metropolitan seat.
Goyder was an electoral district of the South Australian House of Assembly. It was a 9,258 km² rural electorate located on the Yorke Peninsula and taking in the towns of Ardrossan, Bute, Edithburgh, Kadina, Maitland, Minlaton, Moonta, Port Wakefield, Wallaroo and Yorketown. The electorate was named after George Goyder, a former state Surveyor-General famous for developing Goyder's Line, which indicated the area of the state that had enough rainfall to be suitable for agriculture.
State elections were held in South Australia on 11 December 1993. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Lynn Arnold, was defeated by the Liberal Opposition, led by Dean Brown, in a landslide victory. The Liberals won what is still the largest majority government in South Australian history.
Martin Bruce Cameron is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian Senate from May to October 1969. He was later a member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1971 to 1990, sitting as a Liberal except during 1973–1976, when he represented the splinter Liberal Movement.
The Playmander was a gerrymandering system, a pro-rural electoral malapportionment in the Australian state of South Australia, which was introduced by the incumbent Liberal and Country League (LCL) government in 1936, and remained in place for 32 years until 1968.
State elections were held in South Australia on 7 December 1985. 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 John Bannon increased its majority, and defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition John Olsen.
State elections were held in South Australia on 6 November 1982. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia David Tonkin was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition John Bannon.
State elections were held in South Australia on 15 September 1979. 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 Des Corcoran was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition David Tonkin.
State elections were held in South Australia on 12 July 1975. 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 third term in government, defeating the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition Bruce Eastick.
State elections were held in South Australia on 30 May 1970. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Steele Hall was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Don Dunstan.
The 1968South AustralianState election was held in South Australia on 2 March 1968. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election; 38 of the 39 contests were won by candidates from Australia's two major political parties. The incumbent Labor Party South Australia led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan and the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Steele Hall) both won 19 seats. The sole independent candidate to win a race, Tom Stott of the Ridley electorate, joined with the LCL's 19 seats to form a coalition government that held a 20 to 19 majority, thus defeating the Dunstan Labor government.
State elections were held in South Australia on 6 March 1965. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV, in power since 1938, was defeated by the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Frank Walsh.
This is a list of members of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1973 to 1975, as elected at the 1973 state election:
This article provides information on candidates who stood for the 1977 Australian federal election. The election was held on 10 December 1977.
The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Liberal and Country League (LCL) in 1932 and became the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party when the Liberal Party was formed in 1945. It retained its Liberal and Country League name before changing to its current name in 1974. It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Australian Labor Party (SA Branch). The party has been led by Leader of the Opposition David Speirs since the 2022 state election after a one-term government.
