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South Australian state election, 1993

← 1989 11 December 1993 (1993-12-11) 1997 →
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 Dean Brown Lynn Arnold Party Liberal Labor Leader since 11 May 1992 4 September 1992 Leader's seat Finniss Taylor Seats before 22 seats 23 seats Seats won 37 seats 10 seats Seat change 15 13 Percentage 60.9% 39.1% Swing 8.9 8.9
Premier before election Lynn Arnold Labor Elected Premier Dean Brown Liberal

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 Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Lynn Arnold was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition Dean Brown. The Liberals won what is still the largest majority government in South Australian history.

Background

The campaign was dominated by the issue of the collapse of the State Bank of South Australia in 1991. The State Bank's deposits were legally underwritten by the Government of South Australia, putting South Australia into billions of dollars of debt. Labor premier John Bannon had resigned over the issue in 1992, being replaced by Lynn Arnold just over a year before the election. The Liberals also changed leaders in 1992, switching from Dale Baker to Dean Brown. Following the Labor leadership change and by early 1993, Newspoll had recorded a total rise of 13 percent in the Labor primary vote.^[1] However, the gains did not last. A warning sign of things to come came with the March 1993 federal election, which saw two of Labor's longest-held seats in South Australia, Hindmarsh and Grey, fall to the Liberals. Hindmarsh had been in Labor hands without interruption since 1919, while Grey had been in Labor hands for all but one term since 1943.

Results

House of Assembly

The Liberals under Dean Brown went into the election as unbackable favourites, and swept the 11-year Labor government from power in a massive landslide. They won 37 of 47 seats (78.7 percent of the available seats, a majority of 14) in the South Australian House of Assembly from a 15-seat swing − in terms of seat count and percentage of seats won, the largest majority government in the state's history. By comparison, Sir Thomas Playford never governed with more than 23 seats in a 39-seat legislature during his record 27 years as Premier, and Don Dunstan never governed with more than 27 seats in a 47-seat legislature.

The Liberals won 60.9 percent of the two-party vote, the largest two-party preferred vote in South Australian state history (dating back to the first statewide two-party calculations from 1944). Labor fell to just 39.1 percent of the two-party vote from a two-party swing of 8.9 percent—at the time, the largest two-party swing in South Australian state history (second only to the 9.4 percent swing at the following 1997 election, and still the largest that resulted in a change of government. The 15-seat swing is still the largest in South Australian state history.

Adelaide, which had been Labor's power base in the state for decades, swung over dramatically to support the Liberals. Labor lost seats in several parts of Adelaide where it had not been seriously threatened in memory, and was cut down to only nine seats in the capital. Additionally, Labor suffered what proved to be permanent swings in much of country South Australia; it was cut down to only one seat outside of Adelaide, the Whyalla-based seat of Giles.

The stratospheric records for seat count and percentage of seats in the House led to predictions of a generation of Liberal government. However, the Liberal gains were short lived. Factional stoushes between the moderate and conservative wings of the Liberal Party led to Brown's factional rival, John Olsen, successfully challenging Brown for the Liberal leadership in 1996. In turn, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government as a result of the 1997 election, following another record two-party swing in the other direction of 9.5 percent.

A 1994 Torrens by-election saw Labor take the seat from the Liberals. The 1994 Elizabeth by-election and 1994 Taylor by-election saw Labor retain both seats.

Legislative Council

Post-election pendulum

Metro SA: ALP in red, Liberal in blue. These boundaries are based on the 2006 electoral redistribution.

Rural SA: ALP in red, Liberal in blue. These boundaries are based on the 2006 electoral redistribution.

See also

• Candidates of the South Australian state election, 1993


• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1993-1997


• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1993-1997


• Results of the South Australian state election, 1993 (House of Assembly)


• Results of the South Australian state election, 1993 (Legislative Council)


• Previous election: South Australian state election, 1989
  


• Next election: South Australian state election, 1997
  

Notes

References

• 1993 election maps and results: Antony Green ABC archive


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


• 
  "Background leading up to the election/Liberals in power". Crikey. Archived from the original on 2004-10-29.
  

Political Parties

• Australian Labor Party


• Liberal Party of Australia


• Australian Greens


• Australian Democrats


• The Nationals