South Australian general election, 1979

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State election major party leaders
< 1977 1979 1982 >
Labor Des Corcoran Premier Parliament: 18 years Leader since: 1979 Division: Millicent
Liberal David Tonkin Opposition Leader Parliament: 9 years Leader since: 1975 Division: Bragg

State elections were held in Australia on September 15, 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 David Tonkin.

**House of Assembly — 1979-1982 — Turnout 93.04% — Informal 4.43%**
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Liberal Party of Australia	352,343	47.94	+6.73	25	+8
Australian Labor Party	300,277	40.86	-10.78	19	-8
Australian Democrats	60,979	8.30	+4.82	1	0
Nationals SA	14,013	1.91	+0.31	1	0
Independent	7,364	1.00	+0.61	1	+1
Other	0	0.00		0	0
Total	734,976			47
Liberal Party of Australia	WIN	55.00	+8.40	27	+7
Australian Labor Party		45.00	-8.40	20	-7

Independent: Norm Peterson

1 Legislative Council Results
2 See also
3 References

Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1979, which saw David Tonkin and the Liberal party defeat the incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Des Corcoran, after being premier for only seven months after Don Dunstans sudden resignation due to ill health.

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 and the Labor Party suffered an 11% swing against it. Corcoran was bitter in defeat, believing sections of the ALP had undermined him during the campaign. Corcoran resigned as leader in 1979 and retired from politics in 1982.

Tonkin quickly gained a reputation as a progressive member of the LCL and was an early supporter of the Liberal Movement faction created by former premier Steele Hall, although Tonkin remained with the LCL when the Liberal Movement split from it.

Tonkin first gained statewide prominence in 1974 when he successfully introduced a private member's bill to outlaw sex discrimination, the first such law in Australia. This prominence led to a successful 1975 challenge to LCL parliamentary leader Bruce Eastick for the party leadership.

As leader, Tonkin worked toward healing the internal party wounds caused from the split of the Liberal Movement by coaxing the Liberal Movement back into the Liberal fold, which allowed the Liberal Party to regain government at the 1979 election against a seemingly disunited Australian Labor Party.

[edit] Legislative Council Results

The two Liberal Movement members elected in 1975 had rejoined the Liberal Party.

In 1982, Labor MLC Norm Foster resigned from the Labor Party (to vote in favour of the Olympic Dam development) and sat the remainder of his term (until the 1982 election) as an independent.

1979 Legislative Council Result
Party			Seats
	Liberal Party of Australia	50.6%	6
	Australian Labor Party	39.7%	4
	Australian Democrats	6.5%	1
	Nationals SA	1.1%
1979-1982 Legislative Council
Party			Seats
	Liberal Party of Australia		11
	Australian Labor Party		10
	Australian Democrats		1

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Historical lower house results
Historical upper house results
State and federal election results in Australia since 1890

Government of South Australia

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