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State elections were held in South Australia on 17 September 1977. 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 Don Dunstan won a fourth term in government, defeating the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition David Tonkin.
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All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly 24 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parliamentary elections for the lower house of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1977. There was no election for Legislative Council; and as of 2020, this is the most recent South Australian election which has not been for both houses.
The Labor Party led by Don Dunstan, which had won the previous three elections in 1970, 1973 and 1975, defeated the Liberal Party of Australia opposition led by David Tonkin. It was the first time that a Labor government in South Australia had been re-elected for a fourth term, and would be the first nine-year-incumbent Labor government. This would be Dunstan's last election before resigning due to ill health in 1979.
This was the first election after the end of Playmander seat weighting where one vote one value was introduced. At the previous election some metropolitan seats still saw more than three times the number of voters than in some rural seats, despite most of the Playmander being abolished nearly a decade ago. The redistribution was the reason Dunstan called an early election.[1]
The Australian Democrats ran for the first time under a joint New LM-Australian Democrats ticket, winning an average 12.3 percent of the primary vote in the 12 electorates they contested, with former LCL MP Robin Millhouse retaining his seat of Mitcham, which he would hold until 1982.
Keith Russack stood as an Independent Liberal, but later joined the Liberal Party; giving the numbers: 27 Labor, 18 Liberal, 1 Country Party, 1 Australian Democrat.
A 1979 Norwood by-election was triggered as a result of Dunstan's resignation. Labor retained the seat on a considerably reduced majority.
South Australian state election, 17 September 1977[2] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Enrolled voters | 818,341 | |||||
Votes cast | 764,077 | Turnout | 93.37 | -0.19 | ||
Informal votes | 20,743 | Informal | 2.71 | -1.14 | ||
Summary of votes by party | ||||||
Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
Labor | 383,831 | 51.64 | +5.31 | 27 | + 4 | |
Liberal | 306,356 | 41.21 | +9.68 | 17 | – 3 | |
Democrats | 25,855 | 3.48 | * | 1 | – 1 | |
National Country | 11,855 | 1.59 | -1.18 | 1 | ± 0 | |
Independent Liberal | 10,793 | 1.45 | * | 1 | + 1 | |
Independent | 2,914 | 0.39 | -0.51 | 0 | – 1 | |
Other | 1,730 | 0.23 | * | 0 | ± 0 | |
Total | 743,334 | 47 | ||||
Two-party-preferred | ||||||
Labor | 396,957 | 53.40 | +4.20 | |||
Liberal | 346,372 | 46.60 | –4.20 |
This table lists changes in party representation at the 1977 election.
Seat | Incumbent member | Party | New member | Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baudin | New seat | Don Hopgood | Labor | |||
Frome | Ernest Allen | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
Gouger | Keith Russack* | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
Goyder | David Boundy* | Liberal | Keith Russack | Independent | ||
Hartley | New seat | Des Corcoran | Labor | |||
Heysen | David Wotton* | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
Millicent | Murray Vandepeer | Liberal | Seat abolished | |||
Mitcham | Robin Millhouse* | Liberal Movement | Robin Millhouse | Democrats | ||
Morphett | New seat | Terry Groom | Labor | |||
Napier | New seat | Terry Hemmings | Labor | |||
Newland | New seat | John Klunder | Labor | |||
Pirie | Ted Connelly* | Labor | Seat abolished | |||
Tea Tree Gully | Molly Byrne* | Labor | Seat abolished | |||
Todd | New seat | Molly Byrne | Labor | |||
Labor seats (27) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Marginal | |||
Morphett | Terry Groom | ALP | 0.3% |
Fairly safe | |||
Mawson | Leslie Drury | ALP | 6.5% |
Todd | Molly Byrne | ALP | 6.5% |
Brighton | Hugh Hudson | ALP | 8.1% |
Henley Beach | Glen Broomhill | ALP | 9.3% |
Newland | John Klunder | ALP | 9.8% |
Safe | |||
Unley | Gil Langley | ALP | 10.1% |
Norwood | Don Dunstan | ALP | 10.2% |
Hartley | Des Corcoran | ALP | 10.4% |
Mitchell | Ron Payne | ALP | 11.4% |
Ascot Park | Geoff Virgo | ALP | 12.5% |
Gilles | Jack Slater | ALP | 12.8% |
Albert Park | Charles Harrison | ALP | 14.1% |
Playford | Terry McRae | ALP | 15.1% |
Adelaide | Jack Wright | ALP | 16.2% |
Baudin | Don Hopgood | ALP | 16.7% |
Florey | Charles Wells | ALP | 17.0% |
Peake | Don Simmons | ALP | 17.4% |
Price | George Whitten | ALP | 19.4% |
Salisbury | Reg Groth | ALP | 19.5% |
Napier | Terry Hemmings | ALP | 21.0% |
Ross Smith | John Bannon | ALP | 22.2% |
Semaphore | Jack Olson | ALP | 22.2% |
Elizabeth | Peter Duncan | ALP | 22.4% |
Whyalla | Max Brown | ALP | 23.2% |
Stuart | Gavin Keneally | ALP | 23.9% |
Spence | Roy Abbott | ALP | 27.3% |
Liberal seats (17) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Marginal | |||
Coles | Jennifer Adamson | LIB | 1.4% |
Mount Gambier | Harold Allison | LIB | 1.4% |
Torrens | Michael Wilson | LIB | 2.5% |
Hanson | Heini Becker | LIB | 5.4% |
Eyre | Graham Gunn | LIB | 5.9% |
Fairly safe | |||
Rocky River | Howard Venning | LIB | 8.2% |
Glenelg | John Mathwin | LIB | 9.5% |
Chaffey | Peter Arnold | LIB | 9.6% |
Murray | David Wotton | LIB | 10.0% |
Safe | |||
Fisher | Stan Evans | LIB | 10.4% |
Light | Bruce Eastick | LIB | 10.7% |
Bragg | David Tonkin | LIB | 15.3% |
Victoria | Allan Rodda | LIB | 15.3% |
Kavel | Roger Goldsworthy | LIB | 18.7% |
Alexandra | Ted Chapman | LIB | 19.8% |
Mallee | Bill Nankivell | LIB | 23.8% |
Davenport | Dean Brown | LIB | 24.2% |
Crossbench seats (3) | |||
Mitcham | Robin Millhouse | DEM | 6.5% v LIB |
Goyder | Keith Russack | IND | 7.9% v LIB |
Flinders | Peter Blacker | NCP | 24.2% v LIB |
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