South Australian state election, 1989

South Australian state election, 1989

25 November 1989

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 John Bannon John Olsen Party Labor Liberal Leader since 18 September 1979 10 November 1982 Leader's seat Ross Smith Custance Last election 27 seats 16 seats Seats won 22 seats 22 seats Seat change 5 6 Percentage 48.1% 51.9% Swing 5.1 5.1

Premier before election John Bannon Labor Resulting Premier John Bannon Labor

State elections were held in South Australia on 25 November 1989. 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 defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition John Olsen.

House of Assembly (IRV) — Turnout 94.43% (CV) — Informal 2.83%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal Party of Australia	381,834	44.21	+2.05	22	+6
	Australian Labor Party	346,268	40.09	-8.10	22	-5
	Australian Democrats	88,720	10.27	+6.02	0	0
	Independent Labor	13,094	1.52	-0.77	2	0
	Nationals SA	10,217	1.18	-0.54	1	0
	Independents	10,633	1.23	+0.57	0	0
	Other	12,985	1.50		0	0
	Total	863,751			47
	Australian Labor Party	WIN	48.10	-5.10	24	-5
	Liberal Party of Australia		51.90	+5.10	23	+5

Independents: Martyn Evans, Norm Peterson (both Independent Labor).

Background

Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1989, which saw John Bannon and the Australian Labor Party win a third successive term and 11 years in government. The John Olsen-led Liberal Party of Australia failed to win office despite gaining 51.9 percent of the two-party vote. Bannon's government had initially presided over an economic boom, but at the time of the election the economy had slowed due to the late 1980s recession. The Liberals' campaign blamed Bannon for the poor economic conditions.

The Liberals gained several seats, but Labor held power with of the support of the two "independent Labor" members.

It was only the second time that a Labor government in South Australia had been re-elected for a third term, however it would be the first eleven-year-incumbent Labor government.

Before the election, the Liberal Party made allegations of a Labor 'gerrymander', due to the perceived unfair state of the electoral boundaries. While Labor had not instituted any type of imbalanced electoral legislation, it had nonetheless not issued a redistribution since 1983. The electoral districts, with the correct 10 percent tolerances at the time, had not been updated, and due to population shifts, had changed beyond the tolerance allowed. Legislation made redistributions mandatory by the Electoral Commission of South Australia after each election, and included a 'fairness clause' where the commission should redraw boundaries 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. One element of the Playmander remains to this day − the change from multi-member to single-member seats.

Olsen was replaced as Liberal leader by Dale Baker in 1990. He did not contest an election as leader, resigning the leadership to Dean Brown in 1992.

The 1990 Custance by-election, the 1992 Alexandra by-election and the 1992 Kavel by-election saw the Liberals retain each of the seats.

In the South Australian Legislative Council, the sole balance of power was held unbroken by the Australian Democrats from their inception in mid-1970s, until the late 1990s. Though the Democrats would exceed 16 percent of the vote at the 1997 election, during the following term the Democrats would lose the sole balance of power for the first time, sharing the balance of power with independent members, slowly losing numbers and influence, until they were eventually without parliamentary representation as of the 2010 election.

Post-election Pendulum

GOVERNMENT SEATS (24)
Marginal
Florey	Bob Gregory	ALP	1.8%
Unley	Kym Mayes	ALP	2.3%
Norwood	Greg Crafter	ALP	2.5%
Todd	John Klunder	ALP	2.8%
Henley Beach	Don Ferguson	ALP	4.0%
Mitchell	Paul Holloway	ALP	4.3%
Hartley	Terry Groom	ALP	4.5%
Baudin	Don Hopgood	ALP	5.1%
Fairly safe
Walsh	John Trainer	ALP	6.3%
Gilles	Colin McKee	ALP	6.6%
Mawson	Susan Lenehan	ALP	7.3%
Albert Park	Kevin Hamilton	ALP	8.1%
Playford	John Quirke	ALP	9.1%
Peake	Vic Heron	ALP	10.0%
Safe
Whyalla	Frank Blevins	ALP	10.9%
Briggs	Mike Rann	ALP	11.8%
Semaphore	Norm Peterson	IND	12.8% v ALP
Spence	Michael Atkinson	ALP	14.0%
Ross Smith	John Bannon	ALP	14.1%
Price	Murray De Laine	ALP	16.3%
Ramsay	Lynn Arnold	ALP	16.7%
Elizabeth	Martyn Evans	IND	17.1% v ALP
Napier	Terry Hemmings	ALP	17.2%
Stuart	Colleen Hutchison	ALP	18.0%

OPPOSITION SEATS (23)
Marginal
Newland	Dorothy Kotz	LIB	0.1%
Hayward	Mark Brindal	LIB	0.9%
Bright	Wayne Matthew	LIB	1.0%
Fisher	Bob Such	LIB	3.1%
Adelaide	Michael Armitage	LIB	3.3%
Fairly safe
Hanson	Heini Becker	LIB	6.1%
Morphett	John Oswald	LIB	10.0%
Safe
Flinders	Peter Blacker	NAT	10.9% v LIB
Mitcham	Stephen Baker	LIB	11.0%
Light	Bruce Eastick	LIB	12.9%
Coles	Jennifer Cashmore	LIB	13.1%
Heysen	David Wotton	LIB	15.1%
Kavel	Roger Goldsworthy	LIB	15.5%
Davenport	Stan Evans	LIB	15.9%
Alexandra	Ted Chapman	LIB	16.0%
Goyder	John Meier	LIB	16.4%
Eyre	Graham Gunn	LIB	18.6%
Bragg	Graham Ingerson	LIB	20.0%
Custance	John Olsen	LIB	20.1%
Chaffey	Peter Arnold	LIB	20.7%
Mount Gambier	Harold Allison	LIB	22.5%
Murray-Mallee	Peter Lewis	LIB	22.6%
Victoria	Dale Baker	LIB	23.2%

Legislative Council Results

1989 Legislative Council Result (STV GV)
Party			Seats
	Liberal Party of Australia	41.1%	5
	Australian Labor Party	39.7%	5
	Australian Democrats	10.7%	1
	Nationals SA	0.8%
1989-1993 Legislative Council
Party			Seats
	Australian Labor Party		10
	Liberal Party of Australia		10
	Australian Democrats		2

See also

• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1989-1993
• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1989-1993
• Results of the South Australian state election, 1989 (House of Assembly)
• Results of the South Australian state election, 1989 (Legislative Council)

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

External links

• South Australian Elections 1989: Parliament of Australia Research Library paper, including maps