South Australian state election, 1968

South Australian state election, 1968
South Australia
2 March 1968 (1968-03-02)
All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
20 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Steele Hall Don Dunstan
Party Liberal and Country League Labor
Leader since 1966 1 June 1967
Leader's seat Gouger Norwood
Last election 18 seats 21 seats
Seats won 20 seats 19 seats
Seat change Increase2 Decrease2
Percentage 46.8% 53.2%
Swing Increase1.1 Decrease1.1
Premier before election

Don Dunstan
Labor

 Elected Premier

Steele Hall
Liberal and Country League

The 1968 South Australian State election was held in South Australia on 2 March 1968. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Don Dunstan was defeated by the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Steele Hall.[1]

House of Assembly (IRV) — Turnout 94.48% (CV) — Informal 2.31%[2]
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change
  Australian Labor Party 292,445 51.98 -3.06 19 -2
  Liberal and Country League 246,560 43.82 +7.89 19 +2
  Democratic Labor Party 9,223 1.64 -2.71 0 0
  Independent 5,781 1.03 -0.85 1 0
  Other 8,649 1.54 0 0
  Total 562,658     39
  Liberal and Country League WIN 46.80 +1.10 20 +2
  Australian Labor Party 53.20 -1.10 19 -2

Independent: Tom Stott[3]

Results

The election saw the Liberal and Country League opposition form a minority government, winning the same number of seats in the House of Assembly as the incumbent Australian Labor Party government,[4] despite the fact that Labor won 53.2 percent of the two-party vote,[5] and the LCL only 46.8. This result was due to what had become known as the Playmander − an electoral malapportionment that had previously resulted in the LCL also forming government despite having a clear minority of the statewide two-party vote in 1944, 1953 and 1962.

Labor lost the seats of Murray and Chaffey to the LCL.[6] Murray was decided by a mere 21 votes, which, if they had gone in the other direction, would have secured Labor's return for a second term of government.

The LCL were able to form minority government in the hung parliament with confidence and supply from the long-serving crossbench independent MP Tom Stott, who held the balance of power.[7] Stott, a good friend of former Premier Playford, and an opponent of Labor, agreed to support the LCL and became Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly.[8] This allowed the LCL to form government by one seat.

LCL leader Steele Hall had served as Leader of the Opposition for two years before becoming Premier. Young and handsome, he was also the first Australian state premier to sport sideburns. Indeed, the 1968 election, fought between Hall and his opponent Don Dunstan, was described by the Democratic Labor Party as the battle of "the matinée idols".

The 1968 election was also notable for the result in the seat of Millicent. Labor won the seat by a single vote. However, a by-election was triggered by a decision of the Court of Disputed Returns.[9] The by-election saw Labor increase their margin. Notably, turnout increased at the by-election.[1]

Subsequent electoral reform

Hall was embarrassed that the LCL was even in a position to govern despite having clearly lost in terms of actual votes. Realising the obvious unfairness of the election result put him in a politically unacceptable position, he decided to institute electoral reforms to weaken the malapportionment of the Playmander.[10][11]

Since 1936, the House of Assembly had comprised 39 seats - 13 in metropolitan Adelaide, and 26 in the country. This was in accordance with the State Constitution's requirement that there be two country seats for every one in Adelaide. However, by 1968, Adelaide accounted for two-thirds of the state's population, a near-exact reversal from three decades earlier. Although the population in metropolitan areas outnumbered that in rural areas 620,000 to 450,000, the number of members representing the rural areas was twice that allotted to metropolitan areas: 26 to 13.[12]

The LCL won only three metropolitan seats – Burnside, Mitcham and Torrens. However, Labor lost two country seats to the LCL, resulting in a hung parliament. The most populous metropolitan seats had five to ten times as many voters as the least populous rural seats. For instance, at this election the rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes.

Steele's reforms included expanding the House of Assembly to 47 seats - 28 metropolitan seats and 19 rural seats, an increase of 15 metropolitan seats, more than double. It fell short of "one vote one value," as Labor had demanded, since country areas were still somewhat over-represented. The most populous metropolitan seats still contained double the number of voters in the least populous rural seats. However, while there was still rural overweighting, Adelaide now elected a majority of the legislature. Even at its height in the 1940s and 1950s, the LCL had been all but non-existent in Adelaide. Under the circumstances, the reforms made it a near-certainty that Labor would win the next election; indeed, conventional wisdom held that Hall was well aware he had effectively made Dunstan Premier for a second time.

Subsequent collapse of minority government and further reforms

Eventually Hall and Stott fell out over the proposed Chowilla Dam. Stott wanted the dam built in his electorate, while Hall thought its construction was not justified. Constituent anger forced Stott to vote against the Hall government, leading to an early election - the 1970 South Australian state election, which would be fought on much fairer electoral boundaries.[13] As expected, Dunstan led Labor to a decisive victory. Further reforms replaced the Playmander with "one vote one value" after the 1975 election in which Labor retained government, despite a two-party vote of 49.2 percent.

A further reform was added following the 1989 election where Labor retained government despite a two-party vote of 48.1 percent. Following this election, a law was passed requiring the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission to redraw boundaries after each election 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. South Australia is the only state that redistributes electoral boundaries on the basis of the two-party vote. One element of the Playmander remains to this day − the change from multi-member to single-member seats.

Post-election pendulum

GOVERNMENT SEATS (20)
Marginal
Murray Ivon Wardle LCL 0.2%
Alexandra David Brookman LCL 3.9%
Eyre Ernie Edwards LCL 4.9%
Ridley Tom Stott IND 5.6% v LCL
Fairly Safe
Chaffey Peter Arnold LCL 6.0%
Torrens John Coumbe LCL 6.5%
Burnside Joyce Steele LCL 9.4%
Safe
Gouger Steele Hall LCL 11.3%
Flinders Glen Pearson LCL 13.2%
Mitcham Robin Millhouse LCL 14.8%
Burra Ernest Allen LCL 16.2%
Onkaparinga Stan Evans LCL 16.9%
Gumeracha Bryant Giles LCL 17.9%
Angas Berthold Teusner LCL 18.0%
Victoria Allan Rodda LCL 18.1%
Light John Freebairn LCL 18.9%
Rocky River Howard Venning LCL 20.1%
Stirling William McAnaney LCL 22.0%
Yorke Peninsula James Ferguson LCL 24.9%
Albert Bill Nankivell LCL 26.7%
OPPOSITION SEATS (19)
Marginal
Millicent Des Corcoran ALP 0.0%
Unley Gil Langley ALP 1.5%
Wallaroo Lloyd Hughes ALP 2.2%
Barossa Molly Byrne ALP 3.1%
Glenelg Hugh Hudson ALP 3.9%
Fairly safe
West Torrens Glen Broomhill ALP 6.2%
Norwood Don Dunstan ALP 6.6%
Edwardstown Geoff Virgo ALP 8.4%
Mount Gambier Allan Burdon ALP 8.6%
Frome Tom Casey ALP 8.8%
Safe
Gawler John Clark ALP 17.1%
Enfield Joe Jennings ALP 18.1%
Adelaide Sam Lawn ALP 19.4%
Semaphore Reg Hurst ALP 21.3%
Hindmarsh Cyril Hutchens ALP 22.2%
Port Adelaide John Ryan ALP 23.1%
Port Pirie Dave McKee ALP 23.5%
Stuart Lindsay Riches ALP 23.9%
Whyalla Ron Loveday ALP 25.1%

Legislative Council Results

1968 Legislative Council Result
Party Seats
  Australian Labor Party 52.8% 2
  Liberal and Country League 41.9% 8
  Democratic Labor Party 5.3%
1968-1973 Legislative Council
Party Seats
  Liberal and Country League 16
  Australian Labor Party 4

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Jaensch, Dean (March 2007). "The 1968 General Election - Formed the 39th Parliament". History of South Australian elections 1857-2006: House of Assembly, Volume 1. State Electoral Office South Australia. pp. 289–292. ISBN 9780975048634 – via Electoral Commission of South Australia.
  2. ↑ "Electoral system and voting for the South Australian House of Assembly from 1890: Election held on 2 March 1968". Australian Politics and Elections Database. University of Western Australia. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Macintrye, Clem (2005). "Chapter 7: Politics". In Spoehr, John. State of South Australia: Trends & Issues. Wakefield Press. p. 120. ISBN 9781862546813. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Google Books. Such was the imbalance in the enrollment for rural and metropolitan seats that each party won 19 seats (with one Independent, Tom Stott, elected).
  4. ↑ Green, Antony (27 August 2010). "Antony Green's election blog: Hung Parliament - Where to From Here?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 1 February 2016. After the 1968 South Australian election, the Dunstan Labor government finished with 19 seats, the same as the Liberal Country League opposition, (...). Labor had a clear majority of the vote and Dunstan refused to resign as Premier, forcing the vote to the floor of Parliament where his government was defeated.
  5. ↑ "S.A. Election: two seats still in doubt". The Canberra Times. 5 March 1968. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove. The Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr Whitlam, said in Perth today the 53 per cent Labor vote in South Australia was the largest recorded by any Australian Party in 20 years.
  6. ↑ "Mr. Hall's next move". The Canberra Times. 24 June 1968. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove. Millicent suggests that had by-elections been held also in the two seats that Labor lost, Murray and Chaffey, (...).
  7. ↑ "Cliff-hanging in South Australia". The Canberra Times. 8 March 1968. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove. If the parties finish 19 seats all the doughty Independent, Mr Tom Stott, who could be expected to support the LCL will hold the balance of power.
  8. ↑ Aitkin, Don (10 July 1968). "Between the Lines". The Canberra Times. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove. At the next election [1968] there was a tic, resolved by the decision of the Independent Member for Ridley, Mr Stott, to support the LCL. Though not a member of that party, Mr Stott was nevertheless a countryman, and therefore shrewd, stable and possessed of the long view. And in order, perhaps, to better exercise his independence, he accepted the position of Speaker of the House of Assembly.
  9. ↑ "The vote in Millicent". The Canberra Times. 24 June 1968. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove.
  10. ↑ "Steele Hall Confident". The Canberra Times. 22 March 1968. p. 3. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove. One of the first things I'll [Steele] do is push through some electoral reforms so that we won't have the undignified spectacle of people scrambling for votes two or three weeks after the election as they are at present.
  11. ↑ "Reform: SA style". The Canberra Times. 28 March 2016. p. 3. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove.
  12. ↑ "Rationalizing the gerrymander". The Canberra Times. 15 March 1968. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove. Under the South Australian gerrymander, 450,000 country people are represented in the House of Assembly by 26 members, and 620,000 city people by only 13 members, (...).
  13. ↑ "Speaker's vote defeats SA Government". The Canberra Times. 1 May 1970. p. 1. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via Trove.
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