South Australian general election, 1989

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State election major party leaders
< 1985 1989 1993 >
Labor John Bannon Premier Parliament: 12 years Leader since: 1979 Division: Ross Smith
Liberal John Olsen Opposition Leader Parliament: 10 years Leader since: 1982 Division: Rocky River

State elections were held in Australia on November 25, 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 John Olsen.

**House of Assembly — 1989-1993 — Turnout 94.43% — 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

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 1989, which saw John Bannon and the Australian Labor Party win a third successive term. The John Olsen-led Liberal Party of Australia failed to win office despite gaining 52% of the two party preferred 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 recession. The Liberals' campaign blamed Bannon for the poor economic conditions.

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 neglected to issue a new redistribution. The electoral districts, with the correct 10% tolerances at the time of the 1983 redistribution, had not been updated, and due to population shifts, had changed beyond the tolerance allowed.

When the results came in, the Liberals had gained several seats, and Labor was forced to negotiate with independents in order to remain in office. Electoral legislation proposed by the Liberals prior to the election was put to South Australians in a referendum. It made redistributions mandatory after each election, and included a 'fairness clause' in an attempt for electoral districts to be drawn in such a manner than a party that wins over 50.1% of the two-party-preferred vote will gain office.

After the election, Olsen was replaced as Liberal leader by Dale Baker.

[edit] Legislative Council Results

1989 Legislative Council Result
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

[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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