State elections were held in South Australia on 15 September 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 Leader of the Opposition David Tonkin.

The Liberals originally won 25 seats, but a court decision overturned their win in Norwood. Labor won the Norwood by-election, which meant the Liberals held 24 seats, with Labor on 20 seats, and 1 each to the Australian Democrats, National Country Party, and an Independent Labor.

Background Premier Don Dunstan abruptly resigned as premier on 15 February 1979, due to ill health, and was succeeded by Deputy Premier Des Corcoran. Dunstan also resigned from parliament, and his seat was retained for Labor by Greg Crafter at the by-election in March 1979.

Spurred by positive opinion polls, and seeking to escape the shadow of Dunstan by gaining a mandate of his own, Corcoran called a snap election, without informing the party apparatus. The election campaign was plagued by problems, which allowed an opening for the Liberals under Tonkin. It did not help matters that The Advertiser was biased toward the Liberal campaign.

Results Labor suffered a large swing, losing seven seats (six to the Liberals, one to Independent Labor Norm Peterson). The Liberals also won 55 percent of the two-party vote to Labor's 45 percent. In most of Australia, this would have been enough for a landslide Liberal victory. However, much of the Liberal margin was wasted on landslides in their heartland. The Liberals only won 13 seats in Adelaide, netting them a total of 25 seats, a bare majority of two. Narrow as it was, it was the first time the main non-Labor party in South Australia had won the most seats while also winning a majority of the vote since the Liberal and Country League won 50.3 percent of the two-party vote in 1959.

The Liberal majority was pared back even further after the Court of Disputed Returns struck down the result in Norwood. The court found that a Liberal Party advertisement in an Italian language newspaper, which described Liberal candidate Frank Webster as "your representative" ("il vostro deputato"), gave the false impression that Webster was already the sitting member.Red Silk: The Life of Elliott Johnston, QC, Penelope Debelle, Wakefield Press, 2011 Labor's Greg Crafter, who had briefly succeeded Dunstan upon his resignation, regained Norwood at the 1980 Norwood state by-election. This dropped the Liberals to 24 seats, just enough to govern.

In the South Australian Legislative Council, the Liberals won 6 seats, Labor won 4, and Australian Democrats won 1; giving numbers of 11 Liberal, 10 Labor and 1 Democrat, leaving the Liberal government one seat short of a majority.

Aftermath

Corcoran was bitter in defeat, believing sections of the ALP had undermined him during the campaign. He resigned as leader soon after the election, and retired from politics in 1982.

In 1982, when legislation to enable the Roxby Downs uranium mine was opposed by both Labor and the Democrats, Norm Foster resigned from the Labor Party to support the legislation, and sat as an independent in the Legislative Council.

Key dates House of Assembly dissolved: 22 August 1979, 2:00pm Issue of writ: 27 August 1979 Close of nominations: 5 September 1979 Polling day: 15 September 1979 Return of writ: On or before 5 October 1979

Results

House of Assembly

These numbers include the result of the 1980 Norwood state by-election.

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-1979 Swing Post-1979 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Brighton  Labor Hugh Hudson 7.8 12.5 4.7 Dick Glazbrook Liberal  Goyder  Independent Keith Russack* 7.9 N/A 27.1 Keith Russack Liberal  Henley Beach  Labor Glen Broomhill 9.3 10.3 1.0 Bob Randall Liberal  Mawson  Labor Leslie Drury 6.5 9.5 3.0 Ivar Schmidt Liberal  Morphett  Labor Terry Groom 0.4 5.7 5.3 John Oswald Liberal  Newland  Labor John Klunder 9.5 15.7 5.9 Brian Billard Liberal  Semaphore  Labor Jack Olson 22.2 N/A 12.2 Norm Peterson Independent  Todd  Labor Molly Byrne 6.5 11.1 4.6 Scott Ashenden Liberal 

Members in italics did not recontest their seats. Keith Russack was elected in 1977 as an Independent, but joined the Liberal party soon after.

Legislative Council

Post-election pendulum These numbers include the result of the 1980 Norwood state by-election.

Subsequently, the 1982 Mitcham by-election and 1982 Florey by-election were held. The Democrats retained Mitcham by 45 votes, while Labor increased their margin in Florey.

Liberal seats (24)MarginalHenley BeachBob RandallLIB1.0%MawsonIvar SchmidtLIB3.0%ToddScott AshendenLIB4.6%BrightonDick GlazbrookLIB4.7%MorphettJohn OswaldLIB5.3%Mount GambierHarold AllisonLIB5.6%NewlandBrian BillardLIB5.9%Fairly safeMalleePeter LewisLIB7.3% v NATEyreGraham GunnLIB9.9%SafeTorrensMichael WilsonLIB10.1%ColesJennifer AdamsonLIB12.0%Rocky RiverJohn OlsenLIB13.1%ChaffeyPeter ArnoldLIB13.8%HansonHeini BeckerLIB14.5%MurrayDavid WottonLIB15.9%GlenelgJohn MathwinLIB17.2%LightBruce EastickLIB17.2%VictoriaAllan RoddaLIB18.0%FisherStan EvansLIB18.7%BraggDavid TonkinLIB21.5%AlexandraTed ChapmanLIB24.0%KavelRoger GoldsworthyLIB24.3%GoyderKeith RussackLIB27.1%DavenportDean BrownLIB29.7% Labor seats (20)Marginal Ascot ParkJohn TrainerALP1.7% UnleyGil LangleyALP2.3%Norwood*Greg CrafterALP3.1% FloreyHarold O'NeillALP3.7% Albert ParkKevin HamiltonALP3.9% MitchellRon PayneALP4.3% HartleyDes CorcoranALP5.1% PlayfordTerry McRaeALP5.1% GillesJack SlaterALP5.4% BaudinDon HopgoodALP5.7%Fairly safe PeakeKeith PlunkettALP7.8% NapierTerry HemmingsALP9.5%Safe PriceGeorge WhittenALP10.5% AdelaideJack WrightALP10.7% SalisburyLynn ArnoldALP10.8% ElizabethPeter DuncanALP10.9% WhyallaMax BrownALP16.7% StuartGavin KeneallyALP17.0% Ross SmithJohn BannonALP18.4% SpenceRoy AbbottALP20.2%Crossbench seats (3)MitchamRobin MillhouseDEM4.7% v LIBSemaphoreNorm PetersonIND12.2% v ALPFlindersPeter BlackerNCP20.1% v LIB

See also Results of the South Australian state election, 1979 (House of Assembly) Results of the 1979 South Australian state election (Legislative Council) Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1979-1982 Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1979-1982

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

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