Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division)
The Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), commonly known as the South Australian Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formerly the Liberal and Country League (LCL), formed in 1932, before changing its name in 1974.[2] It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Australian Labor Party (SA Branch). The party has been led by Premier of South Australia Steven Marshall since the 2018 state election; their first win in twenty years.
Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Steven Marshall |
| Deputy Leader | Vickie Chapman |
| President | John Olsen[1] |
| Founded | 1932 (as Liberal and Country League) |
| Preceded by | Liberal Federation Country Party (SA) |
| Headquarters | 104 Greenhill Road, Unley |
| Youth wing | South Australian Young Liberal Movement |
| Ideology | Liberal conservatism Economic liberalism Classical liberalism |
| National affiliation | Liberal Party of Australia |
| House of Assembly | 24 / 47 |
| Legislative Council | 9 / 22 |
| House of Representatives | 4 / 10 (SA seats) |
| Senate | 5 / 12 (SA seats) |
| Website | |
| saliberal | |
During its 42-year existence as the Liberal and Country League, it spent 34 years in government, mainly due to an electoral malapportionment scheme known as the Playmander. The Playmander was named after LCL leader Sir Tom Playford, who was the Premier of South Australia for 27 years from 1938 until his election loss in 1965. The Playmander was dismantled through an electoral reform in 1968, with the first election under the new boundaries in 1970. Since the electoral reform, the party has won only 4 of the 15 state elections: 1979, 1993, 1997 and 2018.
History
Formation
The Liberal and Country League had its roots in the Emergency Committee of South Australia, which ran as the main non-Labor party in South Australia at the 1931 federal election landslide. In the House of Representatives, it took an additional two seats to hold six of the state's seven seats. In the bloc-voting winner-take-all Senate, it took the three seats up for election.
Encouraged by this success, the Liberal Federation (the SA branch of the United Australia Party) and the SA Country Party merged to form the LCL on 9 June 1932, with former Liberal Federation leader Richard Layton Butler as its first leader. Liberal Federation itself was preceded by Liberal Union (1910–1923) with the latter created from a tri-merger between the Liberal and Democratic Union (formed 1906), the Farmers and Producers Political Union (formed 1904) and the National Defence League (formed 1891).
In its first electoral test, the 1933 state election, the LCL took advantage of a three-way split in the state Labor government to win a smashing victory, taking 29 seats versus only 13 for the three Labor factions combined. Butler then became the Premier of South Australia.
Traditionally a socially conservative party, the LCL contained three relatively distinct factions whose ideologies often conflicted:
- Farmers, graziers and rural property owners.
- The Adelaide Establishment of old money families and those fortunate enough, through marriage, to have been accepted by the Establishment.
- The urban middle class
The urban middle class continued to support the party although they had little say in its running. Indeed, it was not until the election of Robin Millhouse in 1955 that someone from this third faction was elected to parliament. Millhouse, often considered during his term as the most progressive member of the LCL, continually criticised the conservative wing of the party. He eventually resigned in 1973 and joined the splinter Liberal Movement party.[3]
Playmander period
Early years
The Butler LCL introduced the electoral malapportionment scheme later known as the Playmander in 1936. The House of Assembly was also reduced from 46 members elected from multi-member districts to 39 members elected from single-member electorates. The electorates consisted of rural districts enjoying a 2-to-1 advantage in the state parliament, even though they contained less than half of the population. Two-thirds of seats were to be located in rural areas ("the country"). This arrangement was retained even as Adelaide, the state capital, grew to two-thirds of the state's population.
Even allowing for a smaller chamber, the LCL suffered heavy losses at the 1938 election, winning just 15 of 39 seats. However, Labor picked up only a small number of additional seats. In an unprecedented result, the crossbench swelled massively, with no less than 14 independents elected from a combined independent primary vote of 40 percent, higher than either major party (33 percent for the LCL, 26 percent for Labor). Butler and the LCL had to rely on the crossbench for confidence and supply to remain in government. Only months later, Butler resigned in favour of Tom Playford to make an unsuccessful attempt to enter federal politics. From the 1941 election onward, the Playford LCL would regain and keep a parliamentary majority, albeit narrowly. Additionally, turnout crashed to a record-low 50 percent in 1941, triggering the Playford LCL to introduce compulsory voting from the 1944 election.
In 1945, the Liberal and Country League became the South Australian division of the newly-formed Liberal Party of Australia. However, the SA division continued to be known as the LCL.[4]
Effects on elections
Under the scheme, a vote in a low-population rural seat had anywhere from double to ten times the value of a vote in a high-population metropolitan seat. For example, at the 1968 election the rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes. The scheme allowed LCL to win sufficient parliamentary seats even when it lost the two-party vote to Labor opposition by comprehensive margins at several elections: 1944, 1953, 1962 and 1968. For instance, in the 1944 and 1953 elections, Labor took 53 percent of the two-party vote, which would have normally been enough to deliver a solid majority for the Labor leader–Robert Richards in 1944 and Mick O'Halloran in 1953. However, on both occasions, the LCL managed to just barely hold onto power. By the 1950s, a number of Labor figures had despaired of ever winning power. O'Halleran, for instance, felt he needed to maintain a cordial relationship with Playford in hopes of getting Labor-friendly legislation through the House of Assembly.
Playford had become synonymous with the LCL over his record 27-year tenure as Premier of South Australia. The LCL became so strongly identified with Playford that during election campaigns, it branded itself as "The Playford Liberal and Country League". Playford gave the impression that the LCL membership were there solely to raise money and run election campaigns; his grip on the party was such that he frequently ignored LCL convention decisions. This treatment of rank and file party members continued to cause resentment throughout the party. This split mirrored the dissatisfaction amongst the Establishment faction, which had been steadily losing its power within the party and was appalled at the "nouveau riche (new money) commoners", such as Millhouse, that had infiltrated the parliamentary wing of the LCL.
Fall from power
The LCL's grip on power began to slip in the 1950s; they would lose seats in every election from 1953 onward. Even at the height of Playford's popularity, the LCL was almost nonexistent in Adelaide, winning almost no seats in the capital outside the wealthy "eastern crescent" and the area around Glenelg and Holdfast Bay. Due to its paper-thin base in the capital, Playford's LCL often won just barely enough seats to govern alone; the party never held more than 23 seats at any time during Playford's tenure. Despite this, the LCL party machine had become moribund as leaders had become lulled into a false sense of security due to the extended run of election wins aided by the Playmander. The LCL was thus caught unawares when O'Halloran's successor as state Labor leader, Frank Walsh, eschewed a statewide campaign in favour of targeting marginal LCL seats.
Walsh's strategy almost paid off at the 1962 election. Labor won a decisive 54.3 percent of the two-party preferred vote to the LCL's 45.7 percent. In the rest of Australia, this would have been enough for a comprehensive Labor victory. However, due to the Playmander, Labor only picked up a two-seat swing, leaving it one short of a majority. The two independents threw their support to the LCL, allowing Playford to remain in office. This election showed how grossly distorted the Playmander had become; by this time, Adelaide accounted for two-thirds of the state's population, but elected only one-third of the legislature. A year later, the LCL received another jolt with the reformation of a separate Country Party. Although a shadow of its former self, the reformed Country Party served as a wakeup call to Playford that there were problems within the LCL.
Labor finally beat the Playmander against the odds at the 1965 election. Despite winning the same two-party vote as it had three years earlier, the Playmander was strong enough that Labor was only able to win government by two seats. Playford resigned as party leader in 1966 and was succeeded by Steele Hall.
Dismantling Playmander
At the 1968 election, Labor won a 53.2 percent two-party vote to the LCL's 46.8 percent, but suffered a two-seat swing, resulting in a hung parliament. The lone independent in the chamber, Tom Stott, threw his support to the LCL, allowing it to regain government under Hall. Hall was embarrassed that his party was in a position to win power despite having clearly lost the vote. Concerned by the level of publicity and public protest about the issue, Hall reduced the rural weighting and expanded the lower house from 39 to 47 seats, 28 of which were located in Adelaide. The reforms fell short of "one vote one value", as Labor had demanded, since rural areas were still over-represented. One vote one value would later be introduced by Labor following the 1975 election.
Nonetheless, with Adelaide now electing a majority of the legislature, conventional wisdom held that Hall was effectively handing the premiership to Labor leader Don Dunstan at the next election. That election took place in 1970 when Stott crossed the floor to vote against the LCL. As expected, the LCL was defeated. Hall remained as the Leader of the Opposition.
The party's problems had already emerged in public spats, most notably the formation of the Liberal Movement, a socially progressive or "small-l liberal" wing of the LCL in 1972.[3] The divisions culminated in the Liberal Movement becoming a separate party in 1973, with Hall and fellow parliamentarians Martin Cameron and Robin Millhouse resigning from the LCL to join the newly formed party. Hall claimed that the Party had 'lost its idealism [and] forgotten...its purpose for existence'.
Bruce Eastick succeeded Hall as LCL leader after Hall's resignation from the party in 1973.
Liberal Party
Renaming to the Liberal Party
During Eastick's leadership, the Liberal and Country League met at the State Council meeting on 22 July 1974 to rename itself to "Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division)".[5][6] The renaming initiative was welcomed by federal Liberal leader and opposition leader Billy Snedden, who was present at the meeting. The party also revised its constitution, adopted a new platform, appointed new young party officials and organisers, modelling after the Victorian Liberals.[7]
In July 1975, David Tonkin challenged Eastick for party leadership, and became leader unopposed after Eastick stood aside.[8] This would be the last time that a Liberal leader was elected unopposed until 2013.
Hall's Liberal Movement dissolved in 1976 and three of its four state parliamentary members (Martin Cameron, John Carnie, David Boundy) rejoined the Liberal Party. Hall, who was elected to the Senate in 1974 and 1975 as a Liberal Movement member, also rejoined the Liberal Party and joined the federal Liberal Party room. The remaining Liberal Movement state parliamentary member was Millhouse, who refused to rejoin the Liberal Party, founding the New Liberal Movement instead. His new party merged with the Australia Party a year later in 1977 to become the Australian Democrats.
One vote one value was introduced by Labor following the 1975 election where the Liberal Party won a 50.8 percent two-party vote but fell one seat short of forming government. Labor would regain their vote and majority at the 1977 election, however Dunstan resigned in the months prior to the 1979 election where the Liberals won government for one term.
Tonkin Government (1979-1982)
Opposition (1982-1993)
Brown and Olsen Governments (1993-2002)
Opposition (2002–2018)
The last serving parliamentarian from the LCL era, Graham Gunn, retired in 2010; he had been elected in 1970, the next-to-last election that the party fought under the LCL banner.
On 4 February 2013, Steven Marshall was elected unopposed as Liberal leader. Vickie Chapman was elected as deputy leader after a contest with former party leader Iain Evans.[8][9]
Marshall Government (present)
Parliamentary party leaders
| Parliamentary Party Leader | |
|---|---|
Since the 1970s, five parliamentary Liberal leaders have served as Premier of South Australia: David Tonkin (1979–1982), Dean Brown (1993–1996), John Olsen (1996–2001), Rob Kerin (2001–2002), and Steven Marshall (2018–present).
| Party leader | Assumed office | Left office | Premier | Reason for departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Layton Butler | 1932 | 1938 | 1932–1938 | Resigned to contest the 1938 Wakefield federal by-election |
| Sir Tom Playford | 1938 | 1966 | 1938–1965 | Resigned after 1965 election loss |
| Steele Hall | 1966 | 1972 | 1968–1970 | Resigned |
| Bruce Eastick | 1972 | 1975 | Resigned following party room challenge from Tonkin, after 1975 election loss | |
| David Tonkin | 1975 | 1982 | 1979–1982 | Resigned after 1982 election loss |
| John Olsen | 1982 | 1990 | Resigned after 1989 election loss | |
| Dale Baker | 1990 | 1992 | Resigned, endorsed Olsen to succeed him | |
| Dean Brown | 1992 | 1996 | 1993–1996 | Lost party room challenge to Olsen |
| John Olsen | 1996 | 2001 | 1996–2001 | Resigned as premier due to Motorola affair |
| Rob Kerin | 2001 | 2006 | 2001–2002 | Resigned after 2006 election loss |
| Iain Evans | 2006 | 2007 | Lost party room challenge to Hamilton-Smith | |
| Martin Hamilton-Smith | 2007 | 2009 | Resigned following party room challenge from Redmond | |
| Isobel Redmond | 2009 | 2013 | Resigned | |
| Steven Marshall | 2013 | present | 2018–present |
Deputy Leaders
Since the 1970s, six parliamentary Liberal deputy leaders have served as Deputy Premier of South Australia: Roger Goldsworthy (1979–1982), Stephen Baker (1993–1996), Graham Ingerson (1996–1998), Rob Kerin (1998–2001), Dean Brown (2001–2002), and Vickie Chapman (2018–present).
Current federal parliamentarians
Representatives
- Rowan Ramsey – Grey MP since 2007
- Tony Pasin – Barker MP since 2013
- Nicolle Flint – Boothby MP since 2016
- James Stevens - Sturt MP since 2019
Senators
- Simon Birmingham – Senator since 2008
- David Fawcett – Senator since 2011
- Anne Ruston – Senator since 2012
- Alex Antic - Senator since 2019
- Andrew McLachlan - Senator since 2020
State election results
The Playmander began in 1936 and ended after 1968. Compulsory voting was introduced since the 1944 election.
| Election | Seats won | ± | Total votes | % | Position | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | 29 / 46 |
60,159 | 34.6% | Majority Government | Richard L. Butler | |
| 1938 | 15 / 39 |
 |
72,998 | 33.4% | Minority government | Richard L. Butler |
| 1941 | 20 / 39 |
 |
63,317 | 37.6% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1944 | 20 / 39 |
 |
113,536 | 45.8% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1947 | 23 / 39 |
|
111,216 | 40.4% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1950 | 23 / 39 |
|
113,673 | 40.5% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1953 | 21 / 39 |
|
119,106 | 36.5% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1956 | 21 / 39 |
|
100,569 | 36.7% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1959 | 20 / 39 |
|
143,710 | 37.0% | Majority Government | Tom Playford |
| 1962 | 18 / 39 |
|
140,507 | 34.5% | Minority government | Tom Playford |
| 1965 | 17 / 39 |
|
179,183 | 35.9% | Opposition | Tom Playford |
| 1968 | 19 / 39 |
|
246,560 | 43.8% | Minority government | Steele Hall |
| 1970 | 20 / 47 |
|
258,856 | 43.8% | Opposition | Steele Hall |
| 1973 | 20 / 47 |
|
250,312 | 39.8% | Opposition | Bruce Eastick |
| 1975 | 20 / 47 |
|
218,820 | 31.5% | Opposition | Bruce Eastick |
| 1977 | 17 / 47 |
|
306,356 | 41.2% | Opposition | David Tonkin |
| 1979 | 24 / 47 |
|
352,343 | 47.9% | Majority government | David Tonkin |
| 1982 | 21 / 47 |
|
326,372 | 42.7% | Opposition | David Tonkin |
| 1985 | 16 / 47 |
|
344,337 | 42.2% | Opposition | John Olsen |
| 1989 | 22 / 47 |
|
381,834 | 44.2% | Opposition | John Olsen |
| 1993 | 37 / 47 |
|
481,623 | 52.8% | Majority government | Dean Brown |
| 1997 | 23 / 47 |
|
359,509 | 40.4% | Minority government | John Olsen |
| 2002 | 20 / 47 |
|
378,929 | 39.9% | Opposition | Rob Kerin |
| 2006 | 15 / 47 |
|
319,041 | 34.0% | Opposition | Rob Kerin |
| 2010 | 18 / 47 |
|
408,482 | 41.7% | Opposition | Isobel Redmond |
| 2014 | 22 / 47 |
|
455,797 | 44.8% | Opposition | Steven Marshall |
| 2018 | 25 / 47 |
|
398,182 | 38.0% | Majority government | Steven Marshall |
See also
- Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 2018–2022
- Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 2018–2022
- Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)
- Playmander, the 1936–1968 electoral malapportionment
- 2018 South Australian state election
- 2022 South Australian state election
- List of elections in South Australia
References
- Factional war is definitely coming to SA: InDaily 12 July 2017
- Liberal Party of Australia, South Australian Division: SLSA.sa.gov.au
- "The 1970s". SA Memory:Past, Present for the Future. 16 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 November 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
- "Liberal Party of Australia (N.S.W. Division) - Constitution". August 1945. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- "Liberal and Country League State Council Address - Billy Snedden". 22 July 1974. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- Martin, Robert (2009). Responsible Government in South Australia, Volume 2. South Australia: Wakefield Press. p. 82. ISBN 9781862548442.
- "Labor in SA appears 'edgy'". The Canberra Times. 15 August 1974. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- "Alexander Downer endorses cleanskin Steven Marshall". The Australian. 2 February 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
- Wills, Novak, Crouch, Daniel, Lauren, Brad (4 February 2013). "Steven Marshall and Vickie Chapman to lead SA Liberal Party". The Advertiser.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- "South Australia's 10 most poisonous political feuds". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- "Can Liberals heal rifts?". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 24 March 2006. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- "Senior SA Liberal Iain Evans quits frontbench, to leave politics within 12 months". The Advertiser. Adelaide. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- "Departing SA Liberal Iain Evans takes final swipe at parliamentary colleagues". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- John Spoehr (2009). State of South Australia: From Crisis to Prosperity?. Wakefield Press. ISBN 9781862548657. Retrieved 10 August 2016.