Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division)

Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division)
Leader	Steven Marshall
Deputy Leader	Vickie Chapman
President	Steve Murray [1]
Founded	1974
Preceded by	Liberal and Country League
Headquarters	104 Greenhill Road, Unley
Youth wing	South Australian Young Liberal Movement
National affiliation	Liberal Party of Australia
South Australian House of Assembly	21 / 47
South Australian Legislative Council	8 / 22
Australian House of Representatives (SA)	4 / 11
Australian Senate (SA)	4 / 12
Website
www.saliberal.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

Parliamentary Party Leader
Incumbent Leader of the Opposition Steven Marshall since 4 February 2013
Inaugural holder	Bruce Eastick

The Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, formed in 1974, succeeding the Liberal and Country League (LCL). It is one of two major parties in the bicameral Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch).

The party has won only 3 of the 12 state elections since their formation: 1979, 1993 and 1997. The 1970 election marked the beginning of democratic proportional representation (one vote, one value), which ended decades of pro-rural electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander. The Liberals have been in Opposition since the 2002 election. Leader of the Opposition Steven Marshall has led the Liberal Opposition since a 2013 leadership change from Isobel Redmond. During 2013 the government 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 and will attempt to win 20 consecutive years in power from a fifth four-year term at the 2018 election.

Formation

The Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) was formed in 1974 as a reorganisation and rebranding of the Liberal and Country League (LCL). Bruce Eastick, the last leader of the LCL, became the first leader of the new party.

The LCL was preceded by the Liberal Federation (1923–1932) and the 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 the LCL's 42-year existence, it spent a cumulative total of 34 years in government, mostly led by Thomas Playford IV. Playford's long rule was largely due to a pro-rural electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, introduced by the LCL government in 1936. Under the Playmander, 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, allowing the LCL to win sufficient parliamentary seats even when it lost the two-party vote by comprehensive margins at several elections: 1944, 1953, 1962 and 1968.

Playford had become synonymous with the LCL over his record 27-year tenure as Premier of South Australia. However, the first sign of trouble came at the 1962 election, with the refounding of a separate Country Party. Labor finally beat the Playmander against the odds at the 1965 election. Playford retired from politics shortly afterward. The LCL became moribund and divided, a trend that accelerated after the LCL briefly won back government at the 1968 election. The LCL lost the 1970 election, marking an end to the Playmander and the beginning of democratic proportional representation (one vote, one value) electoral systems in South Australia. Since then, Labor have won 11 of the 14 elections.

The divisions in the once-dominant party culminated when much of its socially progressive, or "small-l liberal" wing broke away to form the Liberal Movement under the leadership of former LCL leader and Premier Steele Hall in 1972. The reorganisation and rebranding of the LCL came two years later, while the New Liberal Movement merged with the Australia Party in 1977 to become the Australian Democrats.

To this day, ongoing division has continued based on both ideologies and personalities, with sides forming between the moderate Chapman and conservative Evans family dynasties, complicated further by the moderate Brown and conservative Olsen rifts.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Premiers

Four of the ten parliamentary Liberal leaders have served as Premier of South Australia: David Tonkin (1979–1982), Dean Brown (1993–1996), John Olsen (1996–2001) and Rob Kerin (2001–2002).

Deputy Premiers

Five 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) and Dean Brown (2001–2002).

List of parliamentary leaders

• Bruce Eastick (1974–1975)
• David Tonkin (1975–1982)
• John Olsen (1982–1990)
• Dale Baker (1990–1992)
• Dean Brown (1992–1996)
• John Olsen (1996–2001)
• Rob Kerin (2001–2006)
• Iain Evans (2006–2007)
• Martin Hamilton-Smith (2007–2009)
• Isobel Redmond (2009–2013)
• Steven Marshall (2013–present)

Current federal parliamentarians

Lower

• Christopher Pyne – Sturt MP since 1993
• Rowan Ramsey – Grey MP since 2007
• Tony Pasin – Barker MP since 2013
• Nicolle Flint – Boothby MP since 2016

Upper

• Cory Bernardi – Senator since 2006
• Simon Birmingham – Senator since 2008
• David Fawcett – Senator since 2011
• Anne Ruston – Senator since 2012

State election results

Election	Seats won	±	Total votes	%	Position	Leader
1975	20 / 47		218,820	31.5%	Opposition	Bruce Eastick
1977	17 / 47	3	306,356	41.2%	Opposition	David Tonkin
1979	24 / 47	7	352,343	47.9%	Majority government	David Tonkin
1982	21 / 47	3	326,372	42.7%	Opposition	David Tonkin
1985	16 / 47	5	344,337	42.2%	Opposition	John Olsen
1989	22 / 47	6	381,834	44.2%	Opposition	John Olsen
1993	37 / 47	15	481,623	52.8%	Majority government	Dean Brown
1997	23 / 47	14	359,509	40.4%	Minority government	John Olsen
2002	20 / 47	3	378,929	39.9%	Opposition	Rob Kerin
2006	15 / 47	5	319,041	34.0%	Opposition	Rob Kerin
2010	18 / 47	3	408,482	41.7%	Opposition	Isobel Redmond
2014	22 / 47	4	455,797	44.8%	Opposition	Steven Marshall

Note: Following the 2014 election, a Liberal became independent, reducing them to 21 seats.

See also

• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 2014–2018
• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 2014–2018
• Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)
• Playmander, the 1936−1968 electoral malapportionment
• South Australian state election, 2014
• South Australian state election, 2018
• List of elections in South Australia

References

External links

• Policies: saliberal.org.au
• Media Releases: saliberal.org.au