South Australian Labor Party

"United Labor Party" redirects here. For other uses, see United Labour (disambiguation).

The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed in 1891 as the United Labor Party of South Australia. It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Liberal Party of Australia (SA Division).

South Australian Labor South Australian Labor Party
Leader	Peter Malinauskas
Deputy Leader	Susan Close
President	Rhiannon Pearce
Secretary	Aemon Bourke[1]
Founded	7 January 1891; 133 years ago (1891-01-07)
Headquarters	141 Gilles Street, Adelaide, South Australia
Youth wing	South Australian Young Labor
Women's wing	Labor Women's Network
LGBT wing	Rainbow Labor
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Australian Labor
Union affiliate	SA Unions
Colours	Red
House of Assembly	28 / 47
Legislative Council	9 / 22
Website
sa.alp.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

Seats in local government
Adelaide	4 / 12
Charles Sturt	4 / 17
Holdfast Bay	1 / 13
Marion	1 / 13
Port Adelaide Enfield	7 / 18
Prospect	1 / 9
Tea Tree Gully	2 / 14
West Torrens	4 / 15

Since the 1970 election, marking the beginning of democratic proportional representation (one vote, one value) and ending decades of pro-rural electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, Labor have won 11 of the 15 elections. Spanning 16 years and 4 terms, Labor was last in government from the 2002 election until the 2018 election. Jay Weatherill led the Labor government since a 2011 leadership change from Mike Rann. During 2013 it became the longest-serving state Labor government in South Australian history, and in addition went on to win a fourth four-year term at the 2014 election. After losing the 2018 election, the party spent 4 years in opposition before leader Peter Malinauskas led the party to a majority victory in the 2022 election.

Labor's most notable historic Premiers of South Australia include Thomas Price in the 1900s, Don Dunstan in the 1970s, John Bannon in the 1980s, and Mike Rann in the 2000s.

Formation

ULP parliamentarians following the 1893 colonial election.

A United Trades and Labor Council meeting with the purpose of creating an elections committee was convened on 12 December 1890, and held on 7 January 1891. The elections committee was formed, officially named the United Labor Party of South Australia (unlike state Labor, prior to 1912 their federal counterparts included the 'u' in their spelling of Labour) with John McPherson the founding secretary. Four months later, Labor enjoyed immediate success, electing David Charleston, Robert Guthrie and Andrew Kirkpatrick to the South Australian Legislative Council. A week later, Richard Hooper won the 1891 Wallaroo by-election as an Independent Labor member in the South Australian House of Assembly. McPherson won the 1892 East Adelaide by-election on 23 January, becoming the first official Labor leader and member of the House of Assembly.

Prior to party creation, South Australian politics had lacked parties or solid groupings, although loose liberal and conservative blocs had begun to develop by the end of the 1880s. The 1893 election was the first general election Labor would stand at, resulting in liberal and conservative leaning MPs beginning to divide, additionally with unidentified groupings and independents, as well as the subsequent formation of the staunchly anti-Labor National Defence League. The voluntary turnout rate increased from 53 to 68 percent, with Labor on 19 percent of the vote, and 10 Labor candidates including McPherson and Hooper were elected to the 54-member House of Assembly which gave Labor the balance of power. The Kingston liberal government was formed with the support of Labor, ousting the Downer conservative government. Kingston served as Premier for a then-record of six and a half years, usually implementing legislation with Labor support.

Thomas Price formed the state's first Labor minority government and the world's first stable Labor Party government at the 1905 election with the support of several non-Labor MPs to form the Price-Peake administration, which was re-elected at the 1906 double dissolution election, with Labor falling just two seats short of a majority. So successful, John Verran led Labor to form the state's first of many majority governments at the 1910 election, just two weeks after the 1910 federal election where their federal counterparts formed Australia's first elected majority in either house in the Parliament of Australia, the world's first Labor Party majority government at a national level, and after the 1904 Chris Watson minority government the world's second Labor Party government at a national level.^[2][3][4]

Known as the United Labor Party of South Australia until 1917, the Australian Labor Party at both a state/colony and federal level pre-dates, among others, both the British Labour Party and the New Zealand Labour Party in party formation, government, and policy implementation.^[5]

Premiers

Parliamentary Party Leader
Incumbent Peter Malinauskas since 9 April 2018
Inaugural holder	John McPherson
Deputy	Susan Close

Thirteen of the nineteen parliamentary Labor leaders have served as Premier of South Australia: Thomas Price (1905–1909), John Verran (1910–1912), Crawford Vaughan (1915–1917), John Gunn (1924–1926), Lionel Hill (1926–1927 and 1930–1931; expelled from party but continued as Premier until 1933), Frank Walsh (1965–1967), Don Dunstan (1967–1968 and 1970–1979), Des Corcoran (1979), John Bannon (1982–1992), Lynn Arnold (1992–1993), Mike Rann (2002–2011), Jay Weatherill (2011–2018) and Peter Malinauskas (2022–Present) . Robert Richards was Premier in 1933 while leading the rebel Parliamentary Labor Party of MPs who had been expelled in the 1931 Labor split; he would later be readmitted and lead the party in opposition. Bannon is Labor's longest-serving Premier of South Australia, ahead of Rann and Dunstan by a matter of weeks. Every Labor leader for more than half a century has gone on to serve as Premier.

Deputy Premiers

Since the position's formal introduction in 1968, seven parliamentary Labor deputy leaders have served as Deputy Premier of South Australia: Des Corcoran (1968 and 1970–1979), Hugh Hudson (1979), Jack Wright (1982–1985), Don Hopgood (1985–1992), Frank Blevins (1992–1993), Kevin Foley (2002–2011), John Rau (2011–18) and Susan Close (2022– Present). Foley is the state's longest-serving Deputy Premier.

List of parliamentary leaders

No	Party leader		Constituency	Assumed office	Left office	Premier	Reason for departure
1	John McPherson		East Adelaide (1892–1897)	23 February 1892	13 December 1897		Died
2	Lee Batchelor		West Adelaide (1893–1901)	1897/1898	12 December 1899		Joined federal parliament
3	Tom Price		Sturt/Torrens (1893–1909)	12 December 1899	31 May 1909	1905–1909	Died
4	John Verran		Wallaroo (1901–1917)	1909	26 July 1913	1910–1912	Lost party room challenge to Vaughan
5	Crawford Vaughan		Torrens/Sturt (1905–1918)	26 July 1913	12 February 1917	1915–1917	Quit party
6	Andrew Kirkpatrick		Leg. Council (1891–1897; 1900–1905) Newcastle (1915–1918)	6 March 1917	15 February 1918		Retired
7	John Gunn		Adelaide (1915–1926)	18 April 1918	18 August 1926	1924–1926	Resigned
8	Lionel Hill		East Torrens / Port Pirie (1915–1933)	18 August 1926	15 August 1931	1926–1927; 1930–1933	Expelled from party
9	Edgar Dawes		Sturt (1930–1933)	12 May 1932	22 April 1933		Lost seat in 1933 election
10	Andrew Lacey		Port Pirie (1933–1946)	22 April 1933	1 April 1938		Stepped down after splinter parties merged
11	Robert Richards		Wallaroo (1918–1949)	1 April 1938	27 October 1949	(1933)	Retired
12	Mick O'Halloran		Burra Burra (1918–1927) Frome (1938–1960)	27 October 1949	22 September 1960		Died
13	Frank Walsh		Goodwood / Edwardstown (1941–1968)	22 September 1960 Acting until 5 October 1960	1 June 1967	1965–1967	Retired
14	Don Dunstan		Norwood (1953–1979)	1 June 1967	15 February 1979	1967–1968; 1970–1979	Resigned
15	Des Corcoran		Millicent / Coles / Hartley (1962–1982)	15 February 1979 Acting until 15 March 1979	2 October 1979	1979	Resigned after 1979 election loss
16	John Bannon		Ross Smith (1977–1993)	2 October 1979	4 September 1992	1982–1992	Resigned
17	Dr Lynn Arnold		Salisbury / Ramsay / Taylor (1979–1994)	4 September 1992	20 September 1994	1992–1993	Resigned
18	Mike Rann		Briggs / Ramsay (1985–2012)	20 September 1994	21 October 2011	2002–2011	Lost party room challenge to Weatherill
19	Jay Weatherill		Cheltenham (2002–2018)	21 October 2011	9 April 2018	2011–2018	Resigned after 2018 election loss
20	Peter Malinauskas		Leg. Council (2015–2018) Croydon (since 2018)	9 April 2018		2022–

List of deputy parliamentary leaders

Party deputy leader	Assumed office	Left office	Deputy Premier
John Fitzgerald	21 April 1933	22 June 1934[6]
Robert Richards	22 June 1934	1 April 1938
Andrew Lacey	1 April 1938	4 September 1946
Mick O'Halloran	4 September 1946	27 October 1949
Frank Walsh	27 October 1949	5 October 1960
Cyril Hutchens	5 October 1960	1 June 1967
Des Corcoran	1 June 1967	15 March 1979	1967–1968; 1970–1979
Hugh Hudson	15 March 1979	2 October 1979	1979
Jack Wright	2 October 1979	16 July 1985	1982–1985
Dr. Don Hopgood	26 July 1985	4 September 1992	1985–1992
Frank Blevins	4 September 1992	14 December 1993	1992–1993
Mike Rann	14 December 1993	20 September 1994
Ralph Clarke	20 September 1994	31 December 1996
Annette Hurley	1 January 1997	Feb 2002
Kevin Foley	Feb 2002	7 February 2011	2002–2011
John Rau	7 February 2011	9 April 2018	2011–2018
Susan Close	9 April 2018		2022–

Current federal parliamentarians

House of Representatives

• Matt Burnell – Spence MP since 2022
• Mark Butler – Hindmarsh MP since 2019, previously Port Adelaide MP from 2007 to 2019.
• Steve Georganas – Adelaide MP since 2019, previously Hindmarsh MP from 2004 to 2013 and again from 2016 to 2019.
• Louise Miller-Frost – Boothby MP since 2022
• Amanda Rishworth – Kingston MP since 2007
• Tony Zappia – Makin MP since 2007

Senate

• Don Farrell – since 2016
• Karen Grogan – since 2021
• Marielle Smith – since 2019
• Penny Wong – since 2002

Historic party officials

• Elizabeth Rose Hanretty

State election results

Election	Leader	Seats won	±	Total votes	%	Position
1893	John McPherson	10 / 54	10	16,458	18.8%	Third party
1896		12 / 54	2	39,107	24.3%	Third party
1899	Lee Batchelor	11 / 54	1	40,756	25.4%	Third party
1902	Thomas Price	5 / 42	6	48,515	19.9%	Opposition
1905		15 / 42	10	148,550	41.3%	Minority government
1906		20 / 42	5	143,577	44.8%	Minority government
1910	John Verran	22 / 42	2	197,935	49.1%	Majority government
1912		16 / 40	6	253,163	46.7%	Opposition
1915	Crawford Vaughan	26 / 46	10	153,034	45.9%	Majority government
1918	Andrew Kirkpatrick	17 / 46	9	145,093	44.7%	Opposition
1921	John Gunn	16 / 46	1	179,308	44.6%	Opposition
1924		27 / 46	11	192,256	48.4%	Majority government
1927	Lionel Hill	16 / 46	11	243,450	47.9%	Opposition
1930		30 / 46	14	102,194	48.6%	Majority government
1933	Edgar Dawes	6 / 46	24	48,273	27.8%	Opposition
1938	Andrew Lacey	9 / 39	3	57,124	26.1%	Opposition
1941	Robert Richards	11 / 39	2	56,062	33.3%	Opposition
1944		16 / 39	5	105,298	42.5%	Opposition
1947		13 / 39	3	133,959	48.6%	Opposition
1950	Mick O'Halloran	12 / 39	1	134,952	48.1%	Opposition
1953		14 / 39	2	166,517	50.9%	Opposition
1956		15 / 39	1	129,853	47.4%	Opposition
1959		17 / 39	2	191,933	49.3%	Opposition
1962	Frank Walsh	19 / 39	2	219,790	53.9%	Opposition
1965		21 / 39	2	274,432	55.0%	Majority government
1968	Don Dunstan	19 / 39	2	292,445	51.9%	Opposition
1970		27 / 47	8	305,478	51.6%	Majority government
1973		26 / 47	1	324,135	51.5%	Majority government
1975		23 / 47	3	321,481	46.3%	Majority government
1977		27 / 47	4	383,831	51.6%	Majority government
1979	Des Corcoran	20 / 47	7	300,277	40.8%	Opposition
1982	John Bannon	24 / 47	5	353,999	46.3%	Majority government
1985		27 / 47	3	393,652	48.2%	Majority government
1989		22 / 47	5	346,268	40.1%	Minority government
1993	Lynn Arnold	10 / 47	12	277,038	30.4%	Opposition
1997	Mike Rann	21 / 47	11	312,929	35.2%	Opposition
2002		23 / 47	2	344,559	36.4%	Minority government
2006		28 / 47	5	424,715	45.2%	Majority government
2010		26 / 47	2	367,480	37.5%	Majority government
2014	Jay Weatherill	23 / 47	3	364,420	35.8%	Minority government
2018		19 / 47	4	343,896	32.8%	Opposition
2022	Peter Malinauskas	27 / 47	8	436,134	40.0%	Majority government

Note: Following the 2014 election, the Labor minority government won the 2014 Fisher by-election which took them to 24 of 47 seats and therefore majority government. Prior to the 2018 election, a Labor MP became an independent, reducing them back to a minority 23 seats.

See also

• Candidates of the 2022 South Australian state election
• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 2018–2022
• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 2018–2022
• Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division)
• Playmander, the 1936–1968 electoral malapportionment
• Rann government
• 2018 South Australian state election
• 2022 South Australian state election
• List of elections in South Australia

References

1. Richardson, Tom (23 March 2022). "State Champion ministry-bound, Libs out for new blood". Indaily. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
2. "History of South Australian elections 1857–2006, volume 1 – ECSA". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
3. Sound of Trumpets: History of the Labour Movement in South Australia – By Jim Moss
4. Why did a 'labour movement' emerge in South Australia in the 1880s? – By Nicholas Klar
5. "Australian Labor Party". AustralianPolitics.com. 6 October 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
6. "LABOUR REMNANTS". Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Gazette. 22 April 1933. p. 7. Retrieved 6 February 2024 – via Trove.