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State elections were held in
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
on 9 February 2002. All 47 seats in the
South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...
were up for election, along with half of the 22 seats in the
South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...
. The incumbent
Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was fo ...
led by
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
of South Australia Rob Kerin was defeated by the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
led by
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
Mike Rann Michael David Rann (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and List of Australi ...
. The Labor Party won 23 out of 47 seats, and then secured the one more seat it needed for a majority by gaining the support of independent Peter Lewis.


Background

This was the first election since Labor narrowly lost as opposition in the 1997 election, doing much better than most analysts predicted, forcing the Liberals to
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
after their comprehensive loss in the 1993 election where Labor were reduced to just ten seats. Coming into the 2002 election, the Liberal Government had faced a number of scandals including the Motorola affair, over which Premier
John Olsen John Wayne Olsen AO (born 7 June 1945) is an Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, Chairma ...
was forced to resign in October 2001. He was succeeded by Rob Kerin, who had less than three months to govern before the election was called.


Key dates

* Issue of writ: 15 January 2002 * Close of electoral rolls: 22 January 2002 * Close of nominations: Friday 25 January 2002, at noon * Polling day: 9 February 2002 * Return of writ: On or before 15 March 2002 (actually returned 26 February)


Results


House of Assembly

Independents: Rory McEwen, Bob Such, Peter Lewis


Seats changing hands

* Members in ''italics'' did not recontest their seats. * Bob Such and Peter Lewis were elected at the 1997 election as Liberals, but quit the party and recontested their seats as Independents and won. Pre-election margins are vs Labor, After margins are against Liberal. * Mitch Williams was elected at the 1997 election as an Independent, but joined the Liberal party and recontested his seat as a Liberal. Margin is against Independent candidate Bill Hender.


Formation of Government

Labor won two seats from the Liberals, the districts of
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
(
Jane Lomax-Smith Jane Diane Lomax-Smith, Order of Australia, AM (born 19 June 1950) is an Australian politician and Histopathology, histopathologist serving as List of mayors and lord mayors of Adelaide, Lord Mayor of Adelaide since 14 November 2022. Lomax-Smith ...
) and Colton (
Paul Caica Paul Caica (born 1957) is an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. He represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Colton from the 2002 election until his retirement in 2018 ...
). This gave Labor 23 seats, Liberals 20 seats, SA Nationals one seat, and three seats to independents. To form majority government, a party needed 24 seats out of 47. Most analysts expected Kerin to form a minority government with the support of Nationals MP
Karlene Maywald Karlene Ann Maywald (born 26 May 1961) is an Australian The Nationals South Australia, National Party politician who represented the seat of electoral district of Chaffey, Chaffey in the South Australian House of Assembly from October 1997 unti ...
, and the three independents, who were all former Liberal party members. On 13 February, one of those crossbenchers, former Liberal Peter Lewis, announced that he had signed an agreement with Labor leader
Mike Rann Michael David Rann (born 5 January 1953) is an Australian former politician who was the 44th premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011. He was later Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2014, and List of Australi ...
to support a Labor Government in exchange for holding a constitutional convention, making him speaker of the
House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...
, and concessions for his electorate including the phasing out of
commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...
in the River Murray, prioritising the eradication of the branched broomrape weed, changing water
rates Rate or rates may refer to: Finance * Rate (company), an American residential mortgage company formerly known as Guaranteed Rate * Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government * Exchange rate, rate ...
for
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
, fast-tracking a feasibility study for a
weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
and
lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...
at
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
, and improving rural roads. This agreement effectively made Rann premier-elect by one seat. However, following parliamentary precedent established by
Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...
following the 1968 election, Kerin refused to resign until Rann and Labor demonstrated that they had majority support on the floor of the House of Assembly. Kerin claimed to be within this rights to take this course, as longstanding precedent in the Westminster system holds that the incumbent premier should have the first opportunity to form a government if no party has a majority. After three weeks of stalemate, the House of Assembly was called into session several weeks earlier than usual. With Lewis in the speaker's chair, the Kerin Government was defeated on the floor of the House of Assembly on 5 March 2002, after Kerin moved a confidence motion in his own government and lost. Rann then advised
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson that he could form a government, which was duly sworn in the following day. Rann later shored up his government's majority by reaching agreements with crossbenchers Maywald and McEwen, giving them cabinet posts in exchange for their support of the government.


Legislative Council

In the
Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...
, Liberal won 5 seats ( Robert Lawson, Caroline Schaefer, Angus Redford, David Ridgway, Terry Stephens), Labor won 4 seats ( Gail Gago, Paul Holloway, Terry Roberts,
John Gazzola John Mario Gazzola (; born 1957) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the South Australian Legislative Council for the Labor Party from 2002 to 2018. He was President of the Council from 2012 to 2014. From 2003 to 2012, Gazz ...
),
Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...
won 1 seat ( Sandra Kanck), and the recently formed Family First party won their first ever seat in an Australian parliament ( Andrew Evans)

This left the overall numbers in the Legislative Council at: Liberal 9, Labor 7, Democrats 3, Family First 1, No Pokies 1, and 1 independent ( Terry Cameron).


Post-election pendulum


See also

* Rann government


References

* * *
History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSA


External links

;General information

;Political parties
Australian Labor PartyLiberal Party of AustraliaSA GreensAustralian DemocratsFamily First PartyThe Nationals
{{South Australian elections Elections in South Australia 2002 elections in Australia 2000s in South Australia February 2002 in Australia