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Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)
Leader	Peter Malinauskas
Deputy Leader	Susan Close
President	Katrine Hildyard
Secretary	Reggie Martin [1]
Founded	1891
Headquarters	141 Gilles Street, Adelaide
Youth wing	South Australian Young Labor
National affiliation	Australian Labor Party
SA House of Assembly	19 / 47
SA Legislative Council	8 / 22
Australian House of Representatives (SA seats)	6 / 11
Australian Senate (SA seats)	3 / 12
Website
sa.alp.org.au
Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch), commonly known as SA 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).

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.

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

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

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) and Jay Weatherill (2011–2018). 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) and John Rau (2011–present). Foley is the state's longest-serving Deputy Premier.

List of parliamentary leaders

• 
  John McPherson (1892–1897)


• 
  Lee Batchelor (1897–1899)


• 
  Thomas Price (1899–1909)


• 
  John Verran (1909–1913)


• 
  Crawford Vaughan (1913–1917)


• 
  Andrew Kirkpatrick (1917–1918)


• 
  John Gunn (1918–1926)


• 
  Lionel Hill (1926–1931)


• 
  Edgar Dawes (1931–1933)


• 
  Andrew Lacey (1933–1938)


• 
  Robert Richards (1938–1949)


• 
  Mick O'Halloran (1949–1960)


• 
  Frank Walsh (1960–1967)


• 
  Don Dunstan (1967–1979)


• 
  Des Corcoran (1979)


• 
  John Bannon (1979–1992)


• 
  Lynn Arnold (1992–1994)


• 
  Mike Rann (1994–2011)


• 
  Jay Weatherill (2011–2018)


• 
  Peter Malinauskas (2018–present)

Current federal parliamentarians

Lower

• 
  Kate Ellis – Adelaide MP since 2004


• 
  Mark Butler – Port Adelaide MP since 2007


• 
  Nick Champion – Wakefield MP since 2007


• 
  Amanda Rishworth – Kingston MP since 2007


• 
  Tony Zappia – Makin MP since 2007


• 
  Steve Georganas – Hindmarsh MP since 2016

Upper

• 
  Penny Wong – Senator since 2002


• 
  Alex Gallacher – Senator since 2011


• 
  Don Farrell – Senator since 2016

Historic party officials

• Elizabeth Rose Hanretty

State election results

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

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

• 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


• South Australian state election, 2018


• South Australian state election, 2022


• List of elections in South Australia

References

External links

• Policies: sa.alp.org.au


• Policy Archive: premier.sa.gov.au


• Media Releases: premier.sa.gov.au