South Australian state election, 2018

Last updated
South Australian state election, 2018
Flag of South Australia.svg
  2014 17 March 2018 2022  

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
  Steven Marshall crop.jpg Jay Weatherill 2018.jpg
Leader Steven Marshall Jay Weatherill
Party Liberal Labor
Leader since4 February 201321 October 2011
Leader's seat Dunstan Cheltenham
Last election22 seats23 seats
Seats won25 seats19 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 3Decrease2.svg 4
Percentage51.9%48.1%
SwingDecrease2.svg 1.1Increase2.svg 1.1

Premier before election

Jay Weatherill
Labor

Elected Premier

Steven Marshall
Liberal

The 2018 South Australian state election to elect members to the 54th Parliament of South Australia was held on 17 March 2018. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly or lower house, whose members were elected at the 2014 election, and 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council or upper house, last filled at the 2010 election, were contested. The record-16-year-incumbent Australian Labor Party (SA) government led by Premier Jay Weatherill was seeking a fifth four-year term, but was defeated by the opposition Liberal Party of Australia (SA), led by Opposition Leader Steven Marshall. Nick Xenophon's new SA Best party unsuccessfully sought to obtain the balance of power.

Parliament of South Australia

The Parliament of South Australia at Parliament House, Adelaide is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the 47-seat House of Assembly and the 22-seat Legislative Council. All of the lower house and half of the upper house is filled at each election. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government.

South Australian House of Assembly lower house of the Parliament of South Australia

The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.

Contents

Like federal elections, South Australia has compulsory voting, uses full-preference instant-runoff voting for single-member electorates in the lower house and optional preference single transferable voting in the proportionally represented upper house. The election was conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), an independent body answerable to Parliament.

Compulsory voting requires citizens to register to vote and to go to their polling place or vote on election day

Compulsory voting is an effect of laws which require eligible citizens to register and vote in elections, and may impose penalties on those who fail to do so. As of August 2013, 22 countries provide for compulsory voting, and 11 democracies — about 5% of all United Nations members — enforce it.

Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of preferential voting method used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates. Instead of voting only for a single candidate, voters in IRV elections can rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each elector's top choice, losing candidates are eliminated, and ballots for losing candidates are redistributed until one candidate is the top remaining choice of a majority of the voters. When the field is reduced to two, it has become an "instant runoff" that allows a comparison of the top two candidates head-to-head.

A single-member district or single-member constituency is an electoral district that returns one officeholder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature. This is also sometimes called single-winner voting or winner takes all. The alternative are multi-member districts, or the election of a body by the whole electorate voting as one constituency.

Results

Metropolitan seats SA-metro-2018.png
Metropolitan seats
Inner-rural seats SA-outermetro-2018.png
Inner-rural seats
Outer-rural seats SA-state-2018.png
Outer-rural seats

House of Assembly

South Australian state election, 17 March 2018 a [1] [2] [3]
House of Assembly
<< 20142022 >>

Enrolled voters1,201,775
Votes cast1,093,584 Turnout 91.00−0.94
Informal votes44,871Informal4.10+1.01
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes%SwingSeatsChange
  Liberal 398,18237.97−6.8125+3
  Labor 343,89632.79−3.0119−4
  SA-BEST 148,36014.15+14.1500
  Greens 69,8266.66−2.0500
  Conservatives 31,8263.03−3.2100
  Dignity 15,5651.48+0.9000
  Animal Justice 3,2620.31+0.3100
 Danig7320.07+0.0700
  Stop Population Growth Now 2840.03+0.0300
  Independent 36,7803.51−0.223+1
Total1,048,713  47 
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal 544,65451.94–1.07
  Labor 504,05948.06+1.07

^a  : Results final as of 5 April. [4]

Independents: Frances Bedford, Troy Bell, Geoff Brock

Frances Bedford Australian politician

Frances Ellen Bedford is an Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Florey since the 1997 state election.

Troy Stephen Bell is an Australian politician representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Mount Gambier. Representing the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia at the 2014 state election, he became an independent in 2017, after being accused of misappropriating more than $2 million of public money.

Geoffrey Graeme Brock is a South Australian politician, representing the seat of Frome in the South Australian House of Assembly as an independent since the 2009 Frome by-election. Following the 2014 election Brock was Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Local Government in the Weatherill Labor cabinet until it was defeated at the 2018 election.

The Liberal opposition formed a two-seat majority government with 25 of 47 seats, after retaining three of the four redistributed notionally Liberal seats won by Labor at the previous election (Colton, Elder and Newland) and winning the newly-created notionally ultra marginal Labor seat of King. The Labor government went in to opposition with 19 seats. Despite the change of government, there was actually a statewide two-party-preferred swing away from the Liberals toward Labor. [2] [3] [4] [1]

Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) South Australian political party

The Liberal Party of Australia , commonly known as the South Australian Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, formed in 1974, succeeding the Liberal and Country League (LCL). It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Australian Labor Party. The party has been led by Premier of South Australia Steven Marshall since the 2018 state election; their first win in twenty years.

A majority government refers to one or multiple governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats.

Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) South Australian political party

The Australian Labor Party , commonly known as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed in 1891 as the United Labor Party of South Australia. It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Liberal Party of Australia.

Seats changing hands

SeatPre-electionSwingPost-election [5]
PartyMemberMargin*MarginMemberParty
Florey Labor Frances Bedford 9.115.26.1 Frances Bedford Independent
King Laborvacant – new seat<0.10.70.7 Paula Luethen Liberal 
Mount Gambier  Liberal Troy Bell 21.431.710.3 Troy Bell Independent 
1 Frances Bedford resigned from Labor in March 2017 to sit as an independent, after she failed to gain preselection.
2 Troy Bell resigned from the Liberals in August 2017 to sit as an independent, after he was charged by the state ICAC.
* Notional margins were calculated by the ABC's election analyst Antony Green.

Party-redistributed seats

Seat2014 Election2016 RedistributionSwing2018 Election [5]
PartyMemberMarginPartyMemberMargin*MarginMemberParty
Colton  Labor Paul Caica 1.5 LiberalNotional3.94.07.9 Matt Cowdrey Liberal 
Elder  Labor Annabel Digance 1.8LiberalNotional4.10.34.4 Carolyn Habib Liberal
Mawson  Labor Leon Bignell 4.6LiberalNotional4.24.50.3 Leon Bignell Labor
Newland  Labor Tom Kenyon 1.4LiberalNotional0.21.72.0 Richard Harvey Liberal
* Notional margins were calculated by the ABC's election analyst Antony Green.

The seats of Colton, Elder, Mawson and Newland were won by Labor at the previous election, but the 2016 redistribution made them notionally Liberal seats. Colton, Elder and Newland were won by the Liberals; Mawson was retained by Labor. [5]

Electoral district of Colton state electoral district of South Australia

Colton is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is a 26.2 km² suburban electorate on Adelaide's western beaches, taking in the suburbs of Adelaide Airport, Fulham, Fulham Gardens, Glenelg North, Henley Beach, Henley Beach South, Kidman Park, West Beach and part of Lockleys.

Electoral district of Elder state electoral district of South Australia

Elder is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after nineteenth-century businessman and philanthropist Sir Thomas Elder. Elder is an 18.3 km² suburban electorate in Adelaide's inner south, taking in the suburbs of Clapham, Clovelly Park, Colonel Light Gardens, Cumberland Park, Daw Park, Hawthorn, Lower Mitcham, Melrose Park, Mitchell Park, Panorama, Pasadena, St Marys, Tonsley, and Westbourne Park.

Electoral district of Mawson state electoral district of South Australia

Mawson is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It covers the entirety of Kangaroo Island, and parts of the local government areas of Alexandrina Council, the City of Onkaparinga, and the District Council of Yankalilla. Major localities in the district include Cape Jervis, Kingscote, McLaren Vale, Port Willunga, Sellicks Beach, Willunga and Yankalilla.

Pendulum

LIBERAL SEATS (25)
Marginal
King Paula Luethen LIB0.7%
Adelaide Rachel Sanderson LIB1.0%
Heysen Josh Teague LIB1.8% v SAB
Newland Richard Harvey LIB2.0%
Elder Carolyn Habib LIB4.4%
Finniss David Basham LIB4.6% v SAB
Fairly safe
Dunstan Steven Marshall LIB6.1%
Hartley Vincent Tarzia LIB7.8%
Waite Sam Duluk LIB7.8%
Colton Matt Cowdrey LIB7.9%
Chaffey Tim Whetstone LIB8.6% v SAB
Black David Speirs LIB8.7%
Davenport Steve Murray LIB8.8%
Gibson Corey Wingard LIB9.3%
Narungga Fraser Ellis LIB9.5% v SAB
Kavel Dan Cregan LIB9.7% v SAB
Safe
Morphett Stephen Patterson LIB10.5%
Morialta John Gardner LIB10.7%
Unley David Pisoni LIB11.3%
Hammond Adrian Pederick LIB12.1% v SAB
Schubert Stephan Knoll LIB14.3%
Bragg Vickie Chapman LIB17.4%
MacKillop Nick McBride LIB17.6% v SAB
Stuart Dan van Holst Pellekaan LIB23.1%
Flinders Peter Treloar LIB26.3%
LABOR SEATS (19)
Marginal
Mawson Leon Bignell ALP0.3%
Wright Blair Boyer ALP3.5%
Lee Stephen Mullighan ALP3.8%
Torrens Dana Wortley ALP4.6%
Hurtle Vale Nat Cook ALP5.3%
Badcoe Jayne Stinson ALP5.5%
Taylor Jon Gee ALP5.7% v SAB
Fairly safe
Giles Eddie Hughes ALP7.4% v SAB
Enfield John Rau ALP7.9%
Light Tony Piccolo ALP9.9%
Safe
Port Adelaide Susan Close ALP11.1% v SAB
West Torrens Tom Koutsantonis ALP13.2%
Elizabeth Lee Odenwalder ALP13.9% v SAB
Reynell Katrine Hildyard ALP14.5%
Kaurna Chris Picton ALP14.9%
Ramsay Zoe Bettison ALP15.5% v SAB
Cheltenham Jay Weatherill ALP15.9%
Playford Michael Brown ALP16.3%
Croydon Peter Malinauskas ALP24.4%
INDEPENDENT SEATS (3)
Florey Frances Bedford IND6.1% v ALP
Frome Geoff Brock IND8.2% v LIB
Mt Gambier Troy Bell IND10.3% v LIB

Legislative Council

South Australian state election, 17 March 2018 b [6] [7] [8]
Legislative Council
<< 20142022 >>

Enrolled voters1,201,775
Votes cast1,095,371 Turnout 91.15−0.98
Informal votes44,497Informal4.06+0.12
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes%SwingSeats
won
Seats
held
  Liberal 338,70032.23−3.7649
  Labor 304,22928.95−2.0148
  SA-BEST 203,36419.35+6.4622
  Greens 61,6105.86−0.5912
  Conservatives 36,5253.48−0.8800
  Liberal Democrats 25,9562.47+1.8700
  Animal Justice 22,8222.17+1.3000
  Dignity 20,3371.94+1.0100
  Child Protection 15,5301.48+1.4800
  Stop Population Growth Now 12,8781.23+0.8400
  Advance SA 4,2270.40+0.4001
 Danig940.01+0.0100
  Independent 4,6020.44−3.9300
Total1,050,874  1122

^b  : Results final as of 23 April. [6]

The 11 of 22 seats up for election were 4 Liberal, 4 Labor, 1 Green, 1 Conservative and 1 Dignity. The final outcome was 4 Liberal, 4 Labor, 2 SA Best and 1 Green. [4] [6] [9] Conservative MLC Dennis Hood, who had been elected as a Family First MLC in 2014, defected to the Liberals nine days after the 2018 state election. [10] [11] The 22 seat upper house composition is therefore 9 Liberal on the government benches, 8 Labor on the opposition benches, and 5 to minor parties on the crossbench, consisting of 2 SA Best, 2 Green, and 1 Advance SA. [4] The government therefore requires at least three additional non-government members to form a majority and carry votes on the floor. [12]

Greens South Australia South Australian political party

Australian Greens SA is a green political party located in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a member of the federation of the Australian Greens party.

The Australian Conservatives is an Australian political party formed and led by Cory Bernardi as a breakaway from the Liberal Party of Australia. The party had been established as a conservative political activist group in July 2016, as response to the results of the 2016 federal election. It was formed as a political party after Bernardi's resignation from the Liberals, following disagreements with the Liberal/National Coalition, its policies and leadership under Malcolm Turnbull. The Family First Party and their two state incumbents Dennis Hood and Robert Brokenshire joined and merged with the Australian Conservatives in April 2017. Brokenshire was not re-elected at the 2018 state election; Hood left the Conservatives to join the Liberal Party of Australia on 26 March 2018.

Dignity Party (South Australia) South Australian political party

Dignity Party previously known as Dignity for Disability or Dignity 4 Disability or D4D is a political party in the Australian state of South Australia. The party had one parliamentary member, Kelly Vincent, elected at the 2010 state election to the eleventh and last seat for an eight-year term in the 22-member Legislative Council in the Parliament of South Australia. She was not re-elected in the 2018 state election. In 2016, the name of the political party was changed to the Dignity Party to better represent equality in all forms including race, gender, age and sexual orientation.

Aftermath

Four hours after the close of polls, at approximately 10pm ACDST, incumbent Premier Jay Weatherill telephoned Steven Marshall and conceded defeat. Weatherill subsequently publicly announced that he had conceded, saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't bring home another victory, but I do feel like one of those horses that has won four Melbourne Cups and I think the handicap has caught up with us on this occasion." Marshall claimed victory saying, "A massive thank you to the people of South Australia who have put their trust, their faith in me and the Liberal team for a new dawn, a new dawn for South Australia!" [13] [14] [13] [15] [16] After the SA Best party failed to win a seat including Hartley, Nick Xenophon ruled out a return to federal politics. [17]

Following the election outcome, Weatherill resigned as state Labor leader and returned to the backbench. Outgoing Minister for Health Peter Malinauskas became Leader of the Opposition, with outgoing Education Minister Susan Close as deputy, following a Labor caucus meeting on 9 April 2018. [18] [19] [20]

Notably, the Liberals won 16 of the 33 metropolitan seats, their best showing in the Adelaide area since their landslide victory in 1993, when they took all but nine seats in the capital. Labor had spent all but 12 of the 48 years since the end of the Playmander in government due to its traditional dominance of Adelaide, home to over three-fourths of the state's population. South Australia is by far the most centralised state in Australia, and so Adelaide decides election outcomes to a far greater extent than is the case with other state capitals. Since the end of the Playmander, most elections have seen Labor win most of the metropolitan seats, with most of the Liberal vote locked up in safe rural seats. In 2010, for instance, the Liberals won 51 percent of the two-party vote on a swing that should have been large enough to deliver them government. However, they only won nine seats in Adelaide, allowing Labor to eke out a two-seat majority. In 2014, while picking up a two percent two-party swing, the Liberals were only able to win an additional three seats in Adelaide.

Campaign

Nick Xenophon announced a few SA Best lower house candidates. Polls had included Xenophon's party as one of the four parties they monitored explicitly since February 2016. [21] Originally, SA Best planned to only contest 12 seats. [22] This was increased to 20. [22] On 27 January, a landmark was passed when Xenophon announced eight new candidates, making a total of 24. This was the minimum number to be theoretically capable of forming majority government in the 47-seat house. [23] On 1 February, Xenophon said it was likely the total number of SA Best lower house candidates would be around 30. [24]

After early opinion polls indicated that it could outperform other parties, [25] the party ultimately contested 36 seats in the House of Assembly and put forward four candidates for the upper house.

Opinion polling indicated a strong performance for the party was possible in at least 10 seats. [26]

Ultimately, the party failed to secure any lower house seats, [27] although there was a close contest in the seat of Heysen. [28] Xenophon lost the seat of Hartley, with un-finalised results indicating a two-party preferred vote of around 42%. [29] The party came second on primary votes in ten seats; the strongest results were in Chaffey, Finniss, and Hartley, where the party received over 25%. [29] [30] [31] SA Best did, however, secure two upper house positions, with the successful election of Connie Bonaros, the campaign manager, and Frank Pangallo, Xenophon's former media advisor. [32] [33]

SeatPartyNXT vote
Heysen LIB31.2%
Chaffey LIB30.5%
Finniss LIB30.4%
Kavel LIB29.8%
Morialta LIB26.9%
Giles ALP26.5%
Mawson LIB (notional)25.8%
Stuart LIB25.8%
Mt Gambier LIB25.4%
Narungga LIB25.0%
Hammond LIB24.3%
Davenport LIB24.2%
Newland LIB (notional)23.7%
Hartley LIB23.7%
Waite LIB23.5%

Following the election, NXT Senator Stirling Griff claimed that polling indicated a 5% drop in SA Best's vote as a direct result of negative advertisements by two major parties as well as the Australian Hotels Association (AHA). He also claimed paternity for an election ad that had been described as "wacky, cheesy" [34] and that that ad actually led to a polling bump for SA Best. [35]

Cory Bernardi's new party Australian Conservatives which merged with Family First Party with its two state incumbents Dennis Hood and Robert Brokenshire with the Australian Conservatives in April 2017 also ran its first election. It would not win any seats.

Key seats for SA Best

The table lists, according to The Poll Bludger website and based on the Nick Xenophon Team's Senate vote performance at the 2016 federal election, the strongest SA Best seats. [26]

Though most of the listed seats are safe Liberal seats, a third party or candidate with a substantial vote was believed to be more likely to be successful in a traditionally safe seat than a marginal seat due to it being easier to out-poll the comparatively low primary vote of the seat's traditionally uncompetitive major party, usually before but occasionally after the distribution of preferences (see Frome state by-election, 2009). If the third party attracts enough first preference votes away from the dominant party, then it is possible that the preferences of voters for the second traditional party will assist the new party's candidate to overtake and therefore defeat the incumbent on the two-candidate-preferred vote (rather than the normally pivotal two-party-preferred vote). According to The Poll Bludger, Nick Xenophon's SA Best candidates "will stand an excellent chance in any seat where they are able to outpoll one or other major party, whose voters will overwhelmingly place them higher than the candidate of the rival major party. In that circumstance, the more strongly performing major party candidate will be in serious trouble unless their own primary vote approaches 50%, which will be difficult to achieve in circumstances where approaching a quarter of the vote has gone to SA Best." [26]

Analysis in December 2017 from polling company Essential Research found SA Best preference flows of 60/40 to Liberal/Labor, indicating that the substantial third party presence of SA Best is eating in to the Liberal vote somewhat greater than the Labor vote. [36]

Background

Overview

There were fourteen political parties registered with the Electoral Commission of South Australia at the time of the election, which were consequently eligible to field candidates for election. [37] Aside from the major parties (Labor and Liberal parties), SA-Best, which polled higher figures than the major parties on occasion, ran in 36 seats, more than the 24 theoretically required to form government. [38] The fourteen parties registered with the Commission were Advance SA, Animal Justice Party, Australian Conservatives, Child Protection Party, Danig Party of Australia, Dignity Party, the Australian Greens SA, Australian Labor Party (SA Branch) and Country Labor Party, Liberal Party of Australia (SA Division), Liberal Democratic Party, the National Party of Australia (SA) Inc, Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST, and Stop Population Growth Now. [37] Since the previous election, six new parties had registered: Danig Party of Australia, Animal Justice Party, Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST, Australian Conservatives, Advance SA and the Child Protection Party. Four were no longer registered: FREE Australia Party, Fishing and Lifestyle Party, Multicultural Progress Party and the Family First Party. [39] [40]

Voting changes

Like federal elections, South Australia has compulsory voting and uses full-preference instant-runoff voting for single-member electorates in the lower house. However, following similar Senate changes which took effect from the 2016 federal election, South Australia's single transferable vote in the proportionally represented upper house changed from group voting tickets to optional preferential voting − instructions for above the line votes were to mark '1' and then further preferences optional as opposed to preference flows from simply '1' above the line being determined by group voting tickets, while instructions for voters who instead opt to vote below the line were to provide at least twelve preferences as opposed to having to number all candidates, and with a savings provision to admit ballot papers which indicate at least six below-the-line preferences. [41]

Previous election

The 2014 election resulted in a hung parliament with 23 seats for Labor and 22 for the Liberals. The balance of power rested with the two crossbench independents, Bob Such and Geoff Brock. Such did not indicate who he would support in a minority government before he went on medical leave for a brain tumour, diagnosed one week after the election. University of Adelaide Professor and Political Commentator Clem Macintyre said the absence of Such virtually guaranteed that Brock would back Labor – with 24 seats required to govern, Brock duly provided support to the incumbent Labor government, allowing Premier Jay Weatherill to continue in office as head of a minority government. Macintyre said: [42]

If Geoff Brock had gone with the Liberals, then the Parliament would have effectively been tied 23 to 23, so once Bob Such became ill and stepped away then Geoff Brock, I think had no choice but to side with Labor.

The Liberals were reduced to 21 seats in May 2014 when Martin Hamilton-Smith became an independent and entered cabinet with Brock. Both Hamilton-Smith and Brock agreed to support the government on confidence and supply while retaining the right to otherwise vote on conscience. It is Labor's longest-serving South Australian government and the second longest-serving South Australian government behind the Playmander-assisted Thomas Playford IV. Aside from Playford, it is the second time that any party has won four consecutive state elections in South Australia, the first occurred when Don Dunstan led Labor to four consecutive victories between 1970 and 1977. Recent hung parliaments occurred when Labor came to government at the 2002 election and prior to that at the 1997 election which saw the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, created in 1974, win re-election for the first time. Following the 2014 election, Labor went from minority to majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election by five votes from a 7.3 percent two-party swing which was triggered by the death of Such. Despite this, the Jay Weatherill Labor government kept Brock and Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority. [43] Frances Bedford resigned from Labor and became an independent in March 2017 after minister Jack Snelling was endorsed for Florey pre-selection as a result of the major electoral redistribution ahead of the 2018 election. As with the rest of the crossbench, Bedford will continue to provide confidence and supply support to the incumbent Labor government. [44] Duncan McFetridge resigned from the Liberals and moved to the crossbench as an independent in May 2017 after Stephen Patterson was endorsed for Morphett pre-selection. [45] Troy Bell resigned from the Liberals and moved to the crossbench as an independent in August 2017 due to criminal financial allegations. [46]

By-elections

Labor candidate Nat Cook won the traditionally Liberal seat of Fisher at the December 2014 by-election by just 9 votes (Lib 10,275 LAB 10,284) after preferences from a 7.3 percent Liberal to Labor two-party swing, taking Labor from minority to majority government. Nat Cook MP.jpg
Labor candidate Nat Cook won the traditionally Liberal seat of Fisher at the December 2014 by-election by just 9 votes (Lib 10,275 LAB 10,284) after preferences from a 7.3 percent Liberal to Labor two-party swing, taking Labor from minority to majority government.

Independent Bob Such died from a brain tumour on 11 October 2014 which triggered a by-election in Fisher for 6 December. [47] Labor's Nat Cook won the by-election by nine votes with a 7.3 percent two-party swing against the Liberals, resulting in a change from minority to majority government. On a 0.02 percent margin it is the most marginal seat in parliament. [43] Despite this, the Weatherill Labor government kept crossbench MPs Geoff Brock and Martin Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority. [43] ABC psephologist Antony Green described the by-election as a "very bad result for the Liberal Party in South Australia" both state and federally, and that a fourth term government gaining a seat at a by-election is unprecedented in Australian history. [48]

Liberal Iain Evans in Davenport resigned from parliament on 30 October 2014 which triggered a 2015 Davenport by-election for 31 January. [49] [50] [51] [52] Liberal Sam Duluk won the seat despite a five percent two-party swing, turning the historically safe seat of Davenport in to a two-party marginal seat for the first time. [53] ABC psephologist Antony Green described it as "another poor result for the South Australian Liberal Party", [54] following the 2014 Fisher by-election which saw Labor go from minority to majority government. [43]

Upper house casual vacancies

Following the parliamentary resignation of former Labor Minister Bernard Finnigan on 12 November 2015 following his conviction for accessing child pornography. [55] SDA secretary Peter Malinauskas filled the Legislative Council casual vacancy in a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia on 1 December. [56]

Following the parliamentary resignation of Labor MLC Gerry Kandelaars on 17 February 2017, Justin Hanson filled the Legislative Council casual vacancy in a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia on 28 February. [57] [58]

Dates

The key dates for the 2018 election were: [59]

The last state election was held on 15 March 2014 to elect members for the House of Assembly and half of the members in the Legislative Council. In South Australia, section 28 of the Constitution Act 1934, as amended in 2001, directs that parliaments have fixed four-year terms, and elections must be held on the third Saturday in March every four years unless this date falls the day after Good Friday, occurs within the same month as a Commonwealth election, or the conduct of the election could be adversely affected by a state disaster. Section 28 also states that the Governor may also dissolve the Assembly and call an election for an earlier date if the Government has lost the confidence of the Assembly or a bill of special importance has been rejected by the Legislative Council. Section 41 states that both the Council and the Assembly may also be dissolved simultaneously if a deadlock occurs between them. [60] [61]

The Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2013 introduced set dates for writs for general elections in South Australia. The writ sets the dates for the close of the electoral roll and the close of nominations for an election. The Electoral Act 1985 requires that, for a general election, the writ be issued 28 days before the date fixed for polling (S47(2a)) and the electoral roll be closed at 12 noon, six days after the issue of the writ (S48(3(a)(i)). The close of nominations will be at 12 noon three days after the close of rolls (Electoral Act 1985 S48(4)(a) and S4(1)).

Redistributions and the two-party vote

To produce "fair" electoral boundaries, the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA) has been required following the 1989 election to redraw boundaries after each election through a "fairness clause" in the state constitution, with the objective that the party which receives over 50 percent of the statewide two-party vote at the forthcoming election should win the two-party vote in a majority of seats in terms of the two-party-preferred vote calculated in all seats regardless of any differing two-candidate-preferred vote. [62]

The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission released a new draft redistribution in August 2016, as calculated from the 24 Liberal−23 Labor seat count by two-party vote as recorded in all 47 seats at the 2014 state election (subsequent by-election results including the significant 2014 Fisher by-election are not counted). The net change proposed would have seen a 25 Liberal−22 Labor notional seat count. [63]

The proposed changes in the draft redistribution contained significant boundary redrawing. Seven seats would be renamed − Ashford would become Badcoe, Mitchell would become Black, Bright would become Gibson, Fisher would become Hurtle Vale, Napier would become King, Goyder would become Narungga, while Little Para would once again become Elizabeth. In two-party terms since the previous election, the seats of Mawson and Elder would become notionally Liberal seats, while Hurtle Vale would become a notionally Labor seat. Mawson in the outer southern suburbs would geographically change the most, stretching along the coast right through to as far as and including Kangaroo Island. Hurtle Vale's margin change of 9 percent would be the largest in the state, with Mawson to change 8.3 percent and King to change 8 percent. [63] [64] [65] [66]

Upon the release of the draft redistribution, Liberal MP Rachel Sanderson organised the mass distribution of a pro forma document in the two inner metropolitan suburbs of Walkerville and Gilberton, which aimed for residents to use the pro forma document to submit their objection to the commission in support of Sanderson's campaign to keep the two suburbs in her seat of Adelaide, which in the draft would have been transferred to neighbouring Torrens. Sanderson's position however was at odds with her own party's submission which in fact agreed with the commission that Walkerville should be transferred to Torrens. Under the commission's draft proposal, the Liberal margin in Adelaide would have been reduced from 2.4 percent to 0.6 percent, but would have also resulted in the Labor margin in Torrens reduced from 3.5 percent to 1.1 percent. Of a record 130 total submissions received in response to the draft redistribution, about 100 (over three quarters of all submissions) were from Walkerville and Gilberton. [67] [68] [69] [70] [71] [72] As a result, the commission reversed the draft decision in the final publication. [73]

Along with other various alterations in the final publication released in December 2016, in addition to Hurtle Vale becoming a notionally Labor seat and Mawson and Elder becoming notionally Liberal seats in the draft redistribution, the final redistribution additionally turned Newland and the bellwether of Colton in to notionally Liberal seats. These further changes provide a 27 Liberal−20 Labor notional seat count in two-party terms, a net change of three seats from Labor to Liberal since the previous election. [73] [74] [75] [76]

Labor objected to the commission's interpretation of the fairness requirements and appealed against it to the Supreme Court of South Australia in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution Act 1934 (SA). Labor sought to have the redistribution order quashed and have the Boundaries Commission make a fresh redistribution. The Grounds of Appeal were stated to relate to the Commission's interpretation of section 77 relating to the number of electors in each electoral district, [77] [78] with the redistribution reducing the number of voters in rural seats and increasing the number of voters in metropolitan seats, though still within the one vote one value 10 percent tolerance. The Supreme Court appeal was rejected on 10 March 2017. Labor considered but decided against an appeal to the High Court. [79] [80]

Post-redistribution pendulum

Redistributed metropolitan seats SA-Draft2016-map3.png
Redistributed metropolitan seats
Redistributed inner-rural seats SA-Draft2016-map2.png
Redistributed inner-rural seats
Redistributed outer-rural seats SA-Draft2016-map1.png
Redistributed outer-rural seats

Below post-redistribution margins listed were calculated by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, [73] and differ somewhat from those calculated by the ABC's Antony Green. [81] The EDBC is the only redistribution authority in Australia that is required to examine voting patterns in drawing electoral boundaries, and in doing so, assume that the proportion of each party's vote in the declaration vote (postal, pre-poll and absent votes) is evenly distributed across the whole of each former electorate. Antony Green's margin estimates are more accurately calculated using declaration votes from the redistributed polling booths. [82]

Retiring members are shown in italic text.

LABOR SEATS BY NOTIONAL 2PP (20)
Marginal
King Jon Gee ALP1.4%
Hurtle Vale Nat Cook ALP1.7%
Lee Stephen Mullighan ALP2.6%
Torrens Dana Wortley ALP2.6%
Light Tony Piccolo ALP3.9%
Badcoe Steph Key ALP4.2%
Wright Jennifer Rankine ALP4.5%
Giles Eddie Hughes ALP5.7%
Fairly safe
Enfield John Rau ALP6.2%
Kaurna Chris Picton ALP8.4%
Taylor Leesa Vlahos ALP8.8%
Florey Frances Bedford (IND) ALP9.2%
Reynell Katrine Hildyard ALP9.8%
Elizabeth Lee Odenwalder ALP9.9%
Safe
Playford Jack Snelling ALP11.5%
West Torrens Tom Koutsantonis ALP12.2%
Port Adelaide Susan Close ALP12.5%
Cheltenham Jay Weatherill ALP14.4%
Ramsay Zoe Bettison ALP17.4%
Croydon Michael Atkinson ALP19.6%
LIBERAL SEATS BY NOTIONAL 2PP (27)
Marginal
Newland Tom Kenyon (ALP) LIB0.1%
Adelaide Rachel Sanderson LIB2.0%
Black David Speirs LIB2.6%
Mawson Leon Bignell (ALP) LIB3.2%
Gibson Corey Wingard LIB3.2%
Hartley Vincent Tarzia LIB3.3%
Colton Paul Caica (ALP) LIB3.7%
Dunstan Steven Marshall LIB3.9%
Elder Annabel Digance (ALP) LIB4.3%
Fairly safe
Morphett Duncan McFetridge (IND) LIB7.7%
Davenport Sam Duluk LIB8.9%
Unley David Pisoni LIB9.2%
Safe
Waite Martin Hamilton-Smith (IND) LIB10.4%
Frome Geoff Brock (IND) LIB10.5%
Morialta John Gardner LIB11.6%
Schubert Stephan Knoll LIB12.4%
Heysen Isobel Redmond LIB13.2%
Finniss Michael Pengilly LIB13.7%
Narungga Steven Griffiths LIB13.8%
Kavel Mark Goldsworthy LIB14.1%
Hammond Adrian Pederick LIB16.3%
Bragg Vickie Chapman LIB16.6%
Stuart Dan van Holst Pellekaan LIB20.1%
Mt Gambier Troy Bell (IND) LIB21.6%
Chaffey Tim Whetstone LIB24.4%
MacKillop Mitch Williams LIB26.7%
Flinders Peter Treloar LIB28.7%

Retiring MPs

Labor

Liberal

Independent

Polling

The July to September 2014 Newspoll saw Labor leading the Liberals on the two-party preferred (2PP) vote for the first time since 2009. [92] [93] The October to December 2015 Newspoll saw Marshall's leadership approval rating plummet 11 points to 30 percent, the equal lowest Newspoll approval rating in history for a South Australian Opposition Leader since Dale Baker in 1990. [94] [95] [93]

The first state-level Newspoll to be conducted in two years, in late 2017, did not publish a 2PP figure, claiming that calculating it had become difficult due to the large third-party primary vote of SA Best. [96] Roy Morgan ceased publishing a 2PP figure from January 2018. [97]

Essential polling's 2PP figures were calculated with approximated SA Best preference flows of 60/40 to Liberal/Labor. [36]

House of Assembly (lower house) polling
DateFirmPrimary vote 2PP vote
ALP LIB BST GRN OTH ALP LIB
17 Mar 2018 election32.8%38.0%14.1%6.7%8.4%48.1%51.9%
TrendPoll Bludger [98] 30.6%32.8%18.0%7.6%11.1%
17 Mar 2018Galaxy [99] 31%36%15%8%10%49.5%50.5%
15 Mar 2018ReachTEL [100] 31%34%16%8%11%52%48%
13–15 Mar 2018Newspoll [100] 31%34%17%8%10%
27 Feb–1 Mar 2018Newspoll [101] 30%32%21%7%10%
29 Jan 2018ReachTEL [102] 26.1%33.4%17.6%5.5%9.1%
11–12 Jan 2018Morgan [97] 23.5%32%28.5%9%7%
Oct–Dec 2017Essential [36] 34%31%22%8%6%51%49%
Oct–Dec 2017Newspoll [103] 27%29%32%6%6%
Jul–Sep 2017Essential [104] 37%30%18%6%10%52%48%
28–29 Jun 2017Galaxy [105] 28%34%21%6%11%50%50%
Apr–Jun 2017Essential [104] 36%31%19%7%8%52%48%
Jan–Mar 2017Essential [104] 35%28%18%6%12%52%48%
Oct–Dec 2016Essential [104] 35%32%17%7%8%51%49%
1–2 Oct 2016Morgan [106] 24.5%36.5%19.5%11%8.5%46%54%
12–14 Sep 2016Galaxy [105] 27%35%22%7%9%50%50%
Jul–Sep 2016Essential [107] 38%30%16%7%9%54%46%
Apr–Jun 2016Essential [107] 34%30%20%7%9%51%49%
Jan–Mar 2016Essential [107] 37%29%15%9%10%54%46%
3–5 Feb 2016Galaxy [105] 28%33%24%7%8%49%51%
Oct–Dec 2015Essential [107] 39%32%10%19%54%46%
Oct–Dec 2015Newspoll [108] 36%38%9%17%51%49%
Apr–Jun 2015Newspoll [108] 36%33%10%21%54%46%
Jan–Mar 2015Newspoll [108] 36%33%10%21%54%46%
Oct–Dec 2014Newspoll [108] 35%33%10%22%53%47%
Jul–Sep 2014Newspoll [108] 34%36%9%21%51%49%
15 Mar 2014 election 35.8%44.8%8.7%10.7%47.0%53.0%
10–13 Mar 2014Newspoll [109] 34%41%9%16%47.7%52.3%
21–27 Feb 2014Newspoll [109] 34%44%7%15%46%54%
Better Premier and satisfaction polling^
DateFirmBetter PremierWeatherillMarshall
WeatherillMarshallSatisfiedDissatisfiedSatisfiedDissatisfied
17 Mar 2018 election
13–15 Mar 2018Newspoll [100] 38%33%33%53%30%50%
27 Feb–1 Mar 2018Newspoll [101] 38%31%33%54%28%54%
Oct–Dec 2017Newspoll [103] 37%32%34%53%27%50%
Oct–Dec 2015Newspoll [108] 42%27%37%46%30%44%
Apr–Jun 2015Newspoll [108] 48%29%45%43%41%39%
Jan–Mar 2015Newspoll [108] 47%31%43%41%41%37%
Oct–Dec 2014Newspoll [108] 47%29%46%42%35%42%
Jul–Sep 2014Newspoll [108] 45%30%45%37%40%34%
15 Mar 2014 election
10–13 Mar 2014Newspoll [109] 43%37%42%42%42%35%
21–27 Feb 2014Newspoll [109] 40%39%43%44%45%29%
^ Remainder were "uncommitted" to either leader.

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