1985 South Australian state election
State elections were held in South Australia on 7 December 1985. 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 increased its majority, and defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition John Olsen.
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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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Background
editParliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia on 7 December 1985, which saw John Bannon and the Australian Labor Party win a second successive term, against the Liberal Party of Australia opposition led by John Olsen.
Labor won the election with an increased majority–at the time, the biggest majority it had held since the end of the Playmander, a record that would stand until 2006. The Liberal Party retained John Olsen as leader, partly because his main rival Dean Brown lost his seat to Independent Liberal Stan Evans. Evans rejoined the Liberal Party soon after the election.
In the South Australian Legislative Council, Labor won one seat from the Liberals, while the Democrats maintained their 2 seats. This shift gave the Australian Democrats sole balance of power. They would continue to hold it until the 1997 election.
Key dates
edit- Issue of writ: 10 November 1985
- Close of nominations: 22 November 1985
- Polling day: 7 December 1985
- Return of writ: On or before 2 January 1986
Results
editHouse of Assembly
edit
South Australian state election, 7 December 1985[1] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enrolled voters | 905,507 | |||||
Votes cast | 846,289 | Turnout | 93.46 | +0.28 | ||
Informal votes | 29,401 | Informal | 3.47 | –2.31 | ||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
Labor | 393,652 | 48.19 | +1.91 | 27 | + 4 | |
Liberal | 344,337 | 42.15 | –0.52 | 16 | – 5 | |
Democrats | 34,732 | 4.25 | –2.87 | 0 | 0 | |
National | 14,056 | 1.72 | –0.60 | 1 | 0 | |
Independent Labor | 18,641 | 2.28 | * | 2 | 0 | |
Independent | 5,368 | 0.66 | –0.94 | 0 | 0 | |
Independent Liberal | 5,224 | 0.64 | * | 1 | + 1 | |
Other | 878 | 0.11 | * | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 816,888 | 47 | ||||
Two-party-preferred | ||||||
Labor | 434,325 | 53.17 | +2.23 | |||
Liberal | 382,563 | 46.83 | –2.23 |
Legislative Council
edit
South Australian state election, 7 December 1985[2] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enrolled voters | 905,507 | |||||
Votes cast | 846,250 | Turnout | 93.46 | +0.67 | ||
Informal votes | 31,312 | Informal | 3.70 | –6.37 | ||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats won |
Seats held | |
Labor | 391,076 | 47.99 | +0.40 | 5 | 10 | |
Liberal | 320,055 | 39.27 | –2.15 | 5 | 10 | |
Democrats | 44,988 | 5.52 | –0.04 | 1 | 2 | |
Call to Australia | 24,666 | 3.03 | +3.03 | 0 | 0 | |
National | 13,276 | 1.63 | –0.37 | 0 | 0 | |
Nuclear Disarmament | 12,098 | 1.48 | +1.48 | 0 | 0 | |
Other | 8,779 | 1.08 | * | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 814,938 | 11 | 22 |
Seats changing hands
editSeat | Pre-1985 | Swing | Post-1985 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
Bright | Liberal | Notional - New Seat | 1.0 | 2.6 | 1.6 | Derek Robertson | Labor | ||
Davenport | Liberal | Dean Brown | 22.0 | N/A | 2.6 | Stan Evans | Independent | ||
Fisher | Liberal | Stan Evans* | 2.1 | 3.2 | 1.1 | Philip Tyler | Labor |
- In addition, Independent MP for Elizabeth, Martyn Evans retained his seat after winning it from Labor at the 1984 by-election.
- Sitting Liberal MP for Fisher, Stan Evans quit the party and contested Davenport as an Independent, and won.
Redistribution affected seats
editSeat | 1982 election | 1983 redistribution | Swing | 1985 election | |||||||||
Party | Member | Margin | Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | |||||
Adelaide | Labor | Jack Wright | 15.6 | Liberal | Notional | 2.8 | -3.4 | 0.6 | Mike Duigan | Labor | |||
Newland | Labor | John Klunder* | 3.6 | Liberal | Notional | 1.0 | -2.5 | 1.5 | Di Gayler | Labor | |||
Todd | Liberal | Scott Ashenden* | 1.4 | Labor | Notional | 2.0 | +3.9 | 5.9 | John Klunder | Labor |
- Sitting Labor MP for Newland, John Klunder instead contested Todd, and won.
- Sitting Liberal MP for Todd, Scott Ashenden instead contested Newland, and lost.
Post-election pendulum
editLabor seats (27) | |||
Marginal | |||
Adelaide | Mike Duigan | ALP | 0.6% |
Fisher | Philip Tyler | ALP | 1.1% |
Newland | Di Gayler | ALP | 1.5% |
Bright | Derek Robertson | ALP | 1.6% |
Hayward | June Appleby | ALP | 2.8% |
Unley | Kym Mayes | ALP | 5.0% |
Todd | John Klunder | ALP | 5.9% |
Fairly safe | |||
Norwood | Greg Crafter | ALP | 6.3% |
Henley Beach | Don Ferguson | ALP | 7.3% |
Florey | Robert Gregory | ALP | 8.2% |
Safe | |||
Walsh | John Trainer | ALP | 10.7% |
Hartley | Terry Groom | ALP | 12.5% |
Albert Park | Kevin Hamilton | ALP | 12.9% |
Mitchell | Ron Payne | ALP | 13.5% |
Baudin | Don Hopgood | ALP | 13.7% |
Gilles | Jack Slater | ALP | 14.2% |
Peake | Keith Plunkett | ALP | 15.7% |
Mawson | Susan Lenehan | ALP | 16.1% |
Whyalla | Frank Blevins | ALP | 17.0% |
Briggs | Mike Rann | ALP | 17.4% |
Spence | Roy Abbott | ALP | 18.4% |
Ross Smith | John Bannon | ALP | 18.7% |
Playford | Terry McRae | ALP | 19.4% |
Stuart | Gavin Keneally | ALP | 22.0% |
Napier | Terry Hemmings | ALP | 23.5% |
Ramsay | Lynn Arnold | ALP | 24.2% |
Price | Murray De Laine | ALP | 24.3% |
Liberal seats (16) | |||
Marginal | |||
Hanson | Heini Becker | LIB | 0.9% |
Morphett | John Oswald | LIB | 4.7% |
Fairly safe | |||
Mitcham | Stephen Baker | LIB | 8.3% |
Coles | Jennifer Adamson | LIB | 8.4% |
Heysen | David Wotton | LIB | 8.8% |
Light | Bruce Eastick | LIB | 9.3% |
Mount Gambier | Harold Allison | LIB | 9.9% |
Safe | |||
Kavel | Stephen Baker | LIB | 11.0% |
Goyder | John Meier | LIB | 12.4% |
Alexandra | Ted Chapman | LIB | 15.2% |
Eyre | Graham Gunn | LIB | 15.8% |
Chaffey | Peter Arnold | LIB | 16.3% |
Custance | John Olsen | LIB | 16.3% |
Bragg | Graham Ingerson | LIB | 17.5% |
Victoria | Dale Baker | LIB | 18.3% |
Murray-Mallee | Peter Lewis | LIB | 18.6% |
Crossbench seats (4) | |||
Davenport | Stan Evans | IND | 2.8% v LIB |
Elizabeth | Martyn Evans | IND | 4.0% v ALP |
Semaphore | Norm Peterson | IND | 7.3% v ALP |
Flinders | Peter Blacker | NAT | 8.3% v LIB |
See also
edit- Candidates of the South Australian state election, 1985
- Results of the South Australian state election, 1985 (House of Assembly)
- Results of the 1985 South Australian state election (Legislative Council)
- Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1985-1989
- Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1985-1989
References
edit- ^ "Details of SA 1985 Election". Australian Politics and Elections Database.
- ^ "History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 2 Legislative Council". ECSA. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
- History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 1: ECSA
- Historical lower house results
- Historical upper house results
- State and federal election results Archived 18 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine in Australia since 1890