Rstykt

South Australian state election, 1979

← 1977 15 September 1979 (1979-09-15) 1982 →
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 party Second party   Leader David Tonkin Des Corcoran Party Liberal Labor Leader since 1975 15 February 1979 Leader's seat Bragg Hartley Seats before 18 seats 27 seats Seats won 24 seats 20 seats Seat change 6 7 Percentage 55.0% 45.0% Swing 8.4 8.4
Premier before election Des Corcoran Labor Elected Premier David Tonkin Liberal

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.

The Liberals originally won 25 seats, but a court decision overturned their win in Norwood. Labor won the Norwood by-election, which meant the Liberals held 24 seats, with Labor on 20 seats.

Background

Premier Don Dunstan abruptly resigned on 15 February 1979 due to ill health, and was succeeded by Deputy Premier Des Corcoran.

Spurred by positive opinion polls and seeking to escape the shadow of Dunstan, Corcoran called a snap election (without pre-informing the party apparatus) in order to gain a mandate of his own. The election campaign was plagued by problems, which allowed an opening for the Liberals under Tonkin. It didn't help matters that The Advertiser was biased toward the Liberal campaign.^{[citation needed]}

Labor suffered a large swing, losing seven seats to the Liberals. The Liberals also won 55 percent of the two-party vote to Labor's 45 percent. In most of Australia, this would have been enough for a landslide Liberal victory. However, most of the Liberal margin was wasted on massive landslides in rural areas. The Liberals only won 13 seats in Adelaide, netting them a total of 25 seats, a bare majority of two. This was pared back to 24 seats, just barely enough to form government, after the Norwood by-election. Narrow as it was, it was the first time the main non-Labor party in South Australia had won the most seats while also winning a majority of the vote since the Liberal and Country League won 50.3 percent of the two-party vote in 1959.

Corcoran was bitter in defeat, believing sections of the ALP had undermined him during the campaign. He resigned as leader soon after the election, and retired from politics in 1982.

In the South Australian Legislative Council, the Australian Democrats gained balance of power, though it was shared with Norm Foster after Foster resigned from the Labor Party in 1982.

Results

House of Assembly

Legislative Council

Post-election pendulum

One of the seats lost to the Liberals had been Dunstan's old seat of Norwood. However, in 1980, a court overturned Liberal Frank Webster's victory, triggering a 1980 Norwood by-election. Greg Crafter regained the seat for Labor, reducing the Liberal government to 24 seats, a one-seat majority. A 1982 Mitcham by-election and 1982 Florey by-election were triggered, the Democrats retained Mitcham by 45 votes, Labor increased their margin in Florey.

See also

• Results of the South Australian state election, 1979 (House of Assembly)


• Results of the South Australian state election, 1979 (Legislative Council)


• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1979-1982


• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1979-1982

References

• History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSA


• Historical lower house results


• Historical upper house results


• 
  State and federal election results in Australia since 1890

Specific