1982 South Australian state election

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1982 South Australian state election
Flag of South Australia.svg
  1979 6 November 1982 (1982-11-06) 1985  

All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
24 seats were needed for a majority
11 (of the 22) seats in the South Australian Legislative Council
 First partySecond party
  John Charles Bannon 1943-2015.jpg David Tonkin.jpg
Leader John Bannon David Tonkin
Party Labor Liberal
Leader since18 September 197924 July 1975
Leader's seat Ross Smith Bragg
Last election20 seats24 seats
Seats won2421
Seat changeIncrease2.svg4Decrease2.svg3
Popular vote353,999326,372
Percentage46.28%42.67%
SwingIncrease2.svg5.43Decrease2.svg5.27
TPP 50.9%49.1%
TPP swingIncrease2.svg5.9Decrease2.svg5.9

 Third partyFourth party
 
DEM
NAT
Leader Heather Southcott Peter Blacker
Party Democrats National
Leader since8 May 1982
Leader's seat Mitcham Flinders
Last election1 1 seat
Seats won01
Seat changeDecrease2.svg1Steady2.svg
Popular vote54,45717,782
Percentage8.30%2.32%
SwingDecrease2.svg1.18ppIncrease2.svg0.42

Premier before election

David Tonkin
Liberal

Elected Premier

John Bannon
Labor

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.

Contents

A referendum on daylight saving was held on the same day, and was passed. [1]

Background

Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1982, which saw John Bannon and the Australian Labor Party defeat the incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by David Tonkin, after one term in power.

As Premier, Tonkin combined fiscal conservatism with socially progressive reforms. In the former, Tonkin made significant cuts to the public service, earning him the enmity of the unions, while an example of the latter was the passage of the land rights bill and the return to the Pitjantjatjara people of 10 per cent of South Australia's area.

Prior to the election, Tonkin removed Robin Millhouse (a former Liberal member who had defected to the Liberal Movement and then the Australian Democrats, and whose popularity enabled him to hold his seat of Mitcham) with an offer of a vacant seat in the Supreme Court.[ citation needed ] However the subsequent by-election saw the seat retained by Democrats candidate Heather Southcott.

One potential election factor was the copper and uranium mine at Olympic Dam, near Roxby Downs. Enabling legislation had been passed earlier in 1982, despite the opposition of the Labor Party, only when Norm Foster quit the Labor party to support it. Considered a controversial move in Labor circles, Bannon defused this as an election issue by promising that development would go ahead under a Labor government (a commitment which was honoured), despite having previously opposed it.

The Liberals also had to contend with the early 1980s recession.

Summary

Labor achieved a 5.9% swing, and won 4 seats from the Liberals (Brighton, Henley Beach, Mawson and Newland). The Liberals won the seat of Mitcham from the Democrats, so overall lost 3 seats. The House of Assembly numbers were Labor 24, Liberal 21, National Party 1 and Independent Labor 1, giving Labor a narrow majority.

In the Legislative Council, Liberal and Labor won 5 seats each, and the Democrats 1; giving a chamber of 11 Liberal, 9 Labor and 2 Democrats. Labor lost one seat to the Democrats, but regained the seat they had lost when Norm Foster resigned from the Labor party earlier that year. Foster stood as an Independent Labor member in the Legislative Council, but was not re-elected.

Aftermath

After the election loss, Tonkin resigned as Liberal leader and was succeeded by John Olsen, who won a leadership ballot against Dean Brown. A heart complaint caused Tonkin to leave parliament soon after at which a 1983 Bragg by-election was triggered, with the Liberals easily retaining the seat.

A 1984 Elizabeth by-election saw Independent Labor candidate Martyn Evans win the seat from Labor. This gave Labor a minority government (23 out of 47 seats), though it continued to govern with the support of Independent Labor members Evans and Norm Peterson. [2]

Key dates

Results

House of Assembly

South Australian state election, 6 November 1982 [3]
House of Assembly
<< 19791985 >>

Enrolled voters871,235
Votes cast811,783 Turnout 93.18+0.14
Informal votes46,921Informal5.78+1.35
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes%SwingSeatsChange
  Labor 353,99946.28+5.4324+4
  Liberal 326,37242.67–5.2721–3
  Democrats 54,4577.12–1.180–1
  National 17,7822.32+0.4210
  Independent 12,2521.60+0.6010
Total764,862  47 
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 389,62550.94+5.94
  Liberal 375,23749.06–5.94

Seats changing hands

SeatPre-1982SwingPost-1982
PartyMemberMarginMarginMemberParty
Brighton  Liberal Dick Glazbrook 4.75.50.8 June Appleby Labor 
Henley Beach  Liberal Bob Randall 1.05.04.0 Don Ferguson Labor 
Mawson  Liberal Ivar Schmidt 3.09.66.6 Susan Lenehan Labor 
Mitcham  Democrats Heather Southcott 4.715.110.4 Stephen Baker Liberal 
Newland  Liberal Brian Billard 6.29.83.6 John Klunder Labor 

Legislative Council

South Australian state election, 6 November, 1982 [4]
Legislative Council
<< 19791985 >>

Enrolled voters871,215
Votes cast808,363 Turnout 92.8+0.2
Informal votes81,400Informal10.1+5.7
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes%SwingSeats
won
Seats
held
  Labor 345,93647.6+7.959
  Liberal 301,09041.4–9.2511
  Democrats 40,4055.6–0.912
  National 14,5142.0+0.900
  Communist 11,8371.6+1.600
 Other13,1811.8*00
Total726,963  1122

Post-election pendulum

Labor seats (24)
Marginal
Brighton June Appleby ALP0.8%
Newland John Klunder ALP3.6%
Henley Beach Don Ferguson ALP4.0%
Whyalla Max Brown ALP4.1% v IND
Fairly safe
Mawson Susan Lenehan ALP6.6%
Unley Kym Mayes ALP6.6%
Norwood Greg Crafter ALP9.1%
Ascot Park John Trainer ALP9.3%
Hartley Terry Groom ALP10.0%
Safe
Mitchell Ron Payne ALP10.7%
Gilles Jack Slater ALP10.7%
Albert Park Kevin Hamilton ALP11.1%
Florey Bob Gregory ALP13.2%
Playford Terry McRae ALP14.7%
Adelaide Jack Wright ALP15.6%
Price George Whitten ALP16.1%
Baudin Don Hopgood ALP16.2%
Napier Terry Hemmings ALP19.2%
Peake Keith Plunkett ALP19.5%
Elizabeth Peter Duncan ALP20.0%
Stuart Gavin Keneally ALP20.0%
Salisbury Lynn Arnold ALP22.5%
Ross Smith John Bannon ALP25.7%
Spence Roy Abbott ALP27.9%
Liberal seats (21)
Marginal
Coles Jennifer Adamson LIB1.3%
Todd Scott Ashenden LIB1.4%
Morphett John Oswald LIB1.5%
Mount Gambier Harold Allison LIB2.2%
Torrens Michael Wilson LIB4.5%
Fairly safe
Hanson Heini Becker LIB8.2%
Fisher Stan Evans LIB9.8%
Safe
Rocky River John Olsen LIB10.3%
Mitcham Stephen Baker LIB10.4% v AD
Murray David Wotton LIB10.6%
Eyre Graham Gunn LIB12.1%
Glenelg John Mathwin LIB12.4%
Light Bruce Eastick LIB15.2%
Chaffey Peter Arnold LIB15.4%
Victoria Allan Rodda LIB16.6%
Kavel Roger Goldsworthy LIB16.7%
Bragg David Tonkin LIB18.1%
Alexandra Ted Chapman LIB19.0%
Goyder John Meier LIB25.1%
Davenport Dean Brown LIB26.5%
Mallee Peter Lewis LIB30.0%
Crossbench seats (2)
Semaphore Norm Peterson IND10.3% v ALP
Flinders Peter Blacker NAT23.7% v ALP

See also

References

  1. History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 1: ECSA Archived 2 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine , Dean Jaensch
  2. John Trainer, Letters to the Editor, March 29, 2014, Adelaide Advertiser
  3. "Details of SA 1982 Election". Australian Politics and Elections Database.
  4. Dean Jaensch. "History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 2 Legislative Council". ECSA. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.