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The Playmander was a pro-rural electoral
malapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionmen ...
in the Australian state of
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 ...
, which was introduced by the incumbent
Liberal and Country League The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Lib ...
(LCL) government in 1936, and remained in place for 32 years until 1968. The term is a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of Playford and "
gerrymander Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...
". Unlike in the US, where it originated, the term "gerrymander" was commonly used in Australia to refer to malapportionments, which were common in Australian state electoral systems. This consisted of 26 low-population rural seats holding as much as 10 times the voting power of the 13 high-population
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 ...
-based seats in the state parliament, even though rural seats contained only a third of South Australia's population by the late 1960s. At the peak of the malapportionment in
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
, the rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes. Additionally, there was also a change from multi-member seats to single-member seats for the first time in South Australia's history, while the number of MPs in the lower house was reduced from 46 to 39. During the Playmander's existence,
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
won enough parliamentary seats to form government only once, in an against the odds win in
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...
that ousted its namesake, Sir Thomas Playford, as
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 ...
after over 26 years in office. The Playmander was strong enough that Labor was denied government despite comprehensive majorities of the statewide two-party vote in
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
,
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
,
1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
and
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
. Labor also won a majority of the primary vote in 1953, 1962 and 1968. More equitable boundaries were subsequently put in place following the 1968 election, ending the Playmander, and again after the
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
and
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
elections. Eight new seats were introduced in 1970, and seats were required to be proportionate from 1975. A unique fairness clause directs the Electoral Commission of South Australia to redraw boundaries after each election, with the objective being that the party which receives over 50 percent of the statewide two-party vote at the forthcoming election should win the two-party vote in a majority of seats; while this clause was removed from the State constitution in 2017, the Commission still retains it when drawing electoral maps. One change introduced as part of the Playmander remains to this day: as in the lower houses most Australian jurisdictions, the House of Assembly is still elected using single-member seats. Prior to the Playmander, the House of Assembly had been elected using multi-member seats since the inaugural 1857 election.


Etymology

The word Playmander is a
portmanteau word In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.) Israeli שלט ''shalát'' 'remote control', an ellipsis ...
derived from the name of long-serving Premier, Sir Thomas Playford, and the political term
gerrymander Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...
, and was coined around 1971 by political scientists
Neal Blewett Neal Blewett, Order of Australia, AC (born 24 October 1933) is an Australian Australian Labor Party, Labor Party politician, diplomat and historian. He was the Australian House of Representatives, Member of the House of Representatives for Divis ...
and Dean Jaensch of
Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...
. Unlike in the US, where it originated, the term "gerrymander" was commonly used in Australia to refer to malapportionments, which were common in Australian state electoral systems.


Playmander years

When South Australia first gained
responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...
in 1856, its constitution required that there be two country seats for every one seat in
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 ...
and its suburbs; thus, rural overweighting was written into the State's constitution. With the merger of the Liberal Federation and the Country Party in 1932 to form the
Liberal and Country League The South Australian Liberal Party, officially known as the Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division), and often shortened to SA Liberals, is the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. It was formed as the Lib ...
, the Country Party had demanded key concessions as part of the deal, particularly to the electoral system. The already entrenched rural overweighting was increased to the constitutional 2:1 ratio, the number of MPs was reduced to 39, and the multi-member seats were abandoned in favour of single-member seats, with 13 in Adelaide and 26 in rural South Australia. The changes were intended to effectively lock Labor out of power, and there was much uproar when it was brought in: Labor MP Tom Howard declared in Parliament that "the working class will not lay down like tame dogs under a system that will not give them proper representation". The electoral system contributed to Playford achieving a then-world record for a democratically elected leader, as he spent 26 years as
Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...
. During this period, as a result of population changes, the rural overweighting allowed Playford to retain power even when the LCL lost by decisive margins in actual votes: in
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
and
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
, for instance, Labor won 53 percent of the two-party vote to the LCL's 47 percent, a margin that in the other states of Australia (with fairer electoral systems) would have seen the Labor leaders ( Robert Richards in 1944 and Mick O'Halloran in 1953) defeat Playford's LCL government in a landslide. However, with the Playmander, the LCL was still able to eke out a paper-thin majority in both elections. This was because rural areas, excepting industrial towns such as
Whyalla Whyalla is a city in South Australia. It was founded as Hummock's Hill, and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, and Gawler, and along ...
,
Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...
and
Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...
, were likely to support the LCL, while Adelaide and its suburbs were overwhelmingly Labor; even at the height of Playford's popularity, the LCL only had a realistic prospect of winning seats in the wealthy eastern suburbs and around
Holdfast Bay Holdfast Bay is a small bay in Gulf St Vincent, next to Adelaide, South Australia. Along its shores lie the local government area of the City of Holdfast Bay and the suburbs of Glenelg and Glenelg North The colonial settlement at Holdfast Ba ...
. By the early 1960s, the rural-to-urban ratio had been almost completely reversed from 1856; around two-thirds of the state's population lived in the Adelaide urban area, meaning the rural overweighting effectively resulted in a rural vote being worth at least double a vote in Adelaide. In one of the more extreme cases mentioned above, a vote in the rural seat of Frome was effectively worth ten times a vote in the urban seat of Enfield. The term "Playmander" was adopted by the Adelaide press, including the articulate young Labor member
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 ...
. Dunstan, more than anyone else, was the driving force behind Labor both overcoming the Playmander and extensive changes being made to the electoral system; the latter, however, would not be implemented by Dunstan. By the 1950s, O'Halloran and other Labor figures had despaired of ever defeating Playford and winning power. They found themselves having to rely on Playford to get favourable legislation passed. This attitude changed when
Frank Walsh Francis Henry Walsh (6 July 1897 – 18 May 1968) was the 34th Premier of South Australia from 10 March 1965 to 1 June 1967, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. Early life One of eight children, Walsh was b ...
became state Labor leader in 1960 upon O'Halloran's death. Walsh knew a conventional statewide campaign was not realistic due to the significant rural overweighting, and opted instead to target the LCL's marginal seats in the 1962 election. By then, the LCL's grip on power had become increasingly tenuous; due to being almost entirely dependent on rural support, the LCL usually won just enough seats to govern alone, and in fact it never held more than 23 seats (three more than necessary to govern) during Playford's tenure. By the time the writs were dropped for the election, the LCL only had a bare majority of 20 seats, and had also lost seats at every election since 1950. At the election, Labor won 54.3 percent of the two-party vote, even higher than in 1944 and 1953. In a fairer system, this would have been enough to give Walsh a strong majority government. However, the rural weighting was strong enough to hold Labor to a two-seat swing, one short of what was required to make Walsh Premier. The balance of power rested with two independents, who supported Playford, thus allowing him to continue in office with a bare one-seat majority. This illustrated just how distorted the Playmander had become: the LCL was in a position to govern despite winning only 45.7 percent of the two-party vote. The Playmander was eventually beaten at the 1965 election, when Labor gained power for the first time since 1933. While the two-party vote remained at 54.3 percent, the rural overweighting was strong enough that Labor won 21 seats, a mere two-seat majority. Walsh retired in late 1967 and was succeeded by Dunstan, who led Labor into the 1968 election. While Labor won 53.2 percent of the two-party vote at that election, it lost two seats, resulting in a
hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...
. After much negotiation, independent
Tom Stott Tom Cleave Stott Order of the British Empire, CBE (6 June 1899 – 21 October 1976) spent 37 years as an independent member of the South Australian House of Assembly, from 1933 to 1970. He served as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assemb ...
threw his support to the LCL, thus making LCL leader Steele Hall the new Premier, despite the LCL winning only 46.8 percent of the two-party vote. Further underscoring this, the LCL had won only three metropolitan seats in 1965 and 1968: Burnside,
Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ...
and Torrens. Hall was embarrassed that the LCL was even in a position to govern, despite having been convincingly defeated in terms of actual votes. The outcry over the result led Hall to institute electoral reform in 1968: the House was expanded to 47 seats, with 28 in Adelaide and 19 in rural areas, which more than doubled the number of metropolitan seats and reduced the number of rural seats. It still fell short of "
one vote one value "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...
", as Labor had demanded, since rural areas were still over-represented, albeit by only 10%; Adelaide had 60% of the seats, whereas it accounted for two-thirds of the state's population, though the most populous metropolitan seats still contained double the number of voters than the least populous rural seats. However, Adelaide elected a majority of the Parliament for the first time in the State's history: given Labor's dominance in Adelaide since the 1930s, the conventional wisdom was that Hall knew that he was effectively conceding defeat to Dunstan at the next election. When a snap election was called in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
, Labor gained power as expected, with 53.3 percent of the two-party vote, sweeping the eight newly created seats.


Post-Playmander years

In
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
, Labor retained office with 54.5 percent of the two-party vote, and the LCL became the South Australian division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1974. Labor retained power in
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
with a majority of seats but lost the two-party vote on 49.2 percent. Dunstan then instituted "one vote one value" electoral reform, which meant that all seats had to contain approximately the same number of enrolled voters; and created an independent body, the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, to draw the electoral boundaries.History of Redistributions
South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission
After
John Bannon John Charles Bannon (7 May 1943 – 13 December 2015) was an Australian politician and academic. He was the 39th Premier of South Australia, leading the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch), South Australian Branch of the Australia ...
won in
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
even after losing the two-party vote at 48 percent, a 1991 referendum was passed which added a "fairness clause" to electoral legislation, requiring the commission to redistribute seats with a view toward ensuring that party which receives a majority of the statewide two-party vote at the forthcoming election should win the two-party vote (in terms of "traditional" two-party matchups between Labor and the Liberals) in a majority of seats. Despite this 1991 change, Labor has won a further three elections (
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
,
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
and
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
) with less than 50% of the two party preferred vote; though in 2002 this was due to the support of independents (and also initially in 2014, until Labor's Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election soon after). Prior to the 2018 election, at which the Liberals won a majority, Labor had been in office for all but 12 years since 1970, the Liberals having only governed from
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
and
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
. Since the end of the Playmander, South Australian politics have been characterised by a concentration of seats in the Adelaide metropolitan area, a manifestation of South Australia's status as the nation's most centralised state. Successive redistributions have resulted in Adelaide and its suburbs containing close to three-quarters of the seats (34 out of 47 in 2017). This makes it difficult to form even a minority government without gaining significant ground in Adelaide. Labor's success in South Australia over the last four decades has been built on a strong base in Adelaide; under normal conditions Labor wins the most seats in the capital. Since the 1975 redistribution, most of the Liberal margin has been locked into ultra-safe rural seats. This remained the case even after the "fairness clause" amendment. In 1979, for instance, the Liberals won 55 percent of the two-party vote–the first time in 20 years that the non-Labor side in South Australia had won a majority of the two-party vote while also winning the most seats. However, they only won 25 seats—a bare majority of two—mainly due to winning only 13 seats in Adelaide. That narrow majority was reduced even further to 24 seats after the Liberal victory in Dunstan's old seat was overturned, and Labor won the ensuing by-election. Thus, despite having won by a margin large enough for a landslide victory in the rest of Australia, the Liberals only governed on a knife-edge. In
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
,
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
and
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, the Liberals won a narrow majority of the two-party vote. However, the Liberals fell short of winning government in all three elections because most of their majorities were wasted on massive landslides in their rural heartland. The only comprehensive Liberal victory, in terms of both two-party vote and seat count, came in 1993, when the Liberals won 61 percent of the two-party vote and all but nine seats in Adelaide en route to the biggest majority government in the state's history. The 2010 and 2014 elections illustrated how difficult it is to form government in South Australia without a strong showing in Adelaide. In 2010, the Liberals picked up a swing of 8.4 percent, more than the uniform 6.9 percent swing that the Boundaries Commission envisaged as being enough for a Liberal win. However, most of that swing came in seats that would have stayed in Labor hands in any event; while 22 seats saw double-digit swings, Labor sat on insurmountably safe margins in 16 of them. Additionally, while the Liberals took three Adelaide-area seats off Labor, they only won six additional seats in the capital. While six of the Liberals' 13 safe two-party seats were in Adelaide, all but one of their four marginal seats were urban. As a result, while the Liberals won 51.6 percent of the two-party vote, Labor was still able to eke out a two-seat majority. In 2014, the Liberals won 53 percent of the two-party vote to Labor's 47 percent. However, in Adelaide, Labor won 51.5 percent of the two-party vote to the Liberals' 48.5 percent. The Liberals only won 12 of Adelaide's 34 seats. While only four of their 14 safe two-party seats were located in Adelaide, all eight non-safe (<10 percent) seats were in Adelaide. Overall, the election resulted in a
hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...
with 23 seats for Labor and 22 for the Liberals. The balance of power rested with the two
crossbench A crossbencher is a minor party or independent politician, independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. ...
independents, Bob Such and
Geoff Brock Geoffrey Graeme Brock (born 1950) is an Australian politician. He is an Independent member in the South Australian House of Assembly, representing the seat of Stuart since the 2022 South Australian state election. Prior to this, he represent ...
. Such's seat of Fisher and Brock's seat of Frome would have had decisive Liberal majorities in "traditional" two-party matchups in 2014. Counting the seats won by the independents, 24 seats returned Liberal two-party votes and 23 returned Labor two-party votes, so the requirements of the "fairness clause" were met. Such did not indicate who he would support in a
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 ...
before he went on two months' medical leave for a
brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...
which he would die from in the ensuing months. Brock subsequently supported Labor., allowing Labor to form government by one seat. It is the second time that Labor has won four consecutive state elections in South Australia, the first occurred when Dunstan led Labor to four consecutive victories between 1970 and 1977. Labor achieved
majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...
when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election triggered by Such's death. After 16 years in office–a record for a Labor government in the state–Labor was defeated at the 2018 election by the Liberals under
Steven Marshall Steven Spence Marshall (born 21 January 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 46th premier of South Australia between 2018 and 2022. He was a member of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the ...
. Even then, the Liberals suffered a state-wide swing against them and were only able to win 25 seats–as in 1979, a bare majority of two. They did, however, manage to win 16 of the 33 metropolitan seats, their best showing in Adelaide since the 1993 landslide–thus proving that it is very difficult to win even a minority government without a strong showing in Adelaide. One element of the Playmander still exists to this day – the existence of single-member seats. Each Labor period of government since the end of the Playmander had at least one comprehensive win (1977, 1985 and 2006) allowing often-Liberal seats to be won by Labor candidates who then built up incumbency and personal popularity. Examples in 2014 were Mawson, Newland and
Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...
, and additionally in 2010, Bright and Hartley – all gained at the 2006 election landslide. Mawson in fact swung toward Labor in
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
,
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
and
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
despite the statewide trend. The
bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Re ...
seat of Colton was retained by Labor. Furthermore, metropolitan Liberal seats and polling places had single and double digit swings against them. By comparison, as mentioned above, there has been only one comprehensive Liberal win since the end of the Playmander, in 1993. In 2014, referring to the 1989 fairness legislation, Weatherill responded to Liberal complaints about the fairness clause by saying, "Complaining about the rules when you designed the rules I think sits ill on the mouth of the Liberal Party." Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley said it was an "impossible" task for the Boundaries Commission to achieve the legislated requirement, stating "It is a constitutional requirement, and until the constitution gets changed, I must say I find it a very inexact science". Additionally, she had previously stated in 2010, "Had the Liberal Party achieved a uniform swing it would have formed Government. The Commission has no control over, and can accept no responsibility for, the quality of the candidates, policies and campaigns."
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
Professor of Politics Clem Macintyre stated after the 2014 election that fair electoral boundaries are an "impossible challenge".Fair electoral boundaries an "impossible challenge": University of Adelaide, 21 March 2014
/ref>


Results 1933–1973

The LCL was formed in 1932, being rebranded as the Liberal Party in 1974, while the Playmander began in 1936 and was abolished in 1968. Two-party-preferred (2PP) figures are not available prior to 1944.


Labor's winning pendulum

Labor's statewide
two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Nati ...
at the 1965 election remained unchanged at 54.3 percent, barely winning for the first and only time during the 32-year Playmander, with just a two-seat
majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...
. Labor won the seats of Glenelg and Barossa at the 1965 election, after winning the seats of Chaffey and Unley at the 1962 election. At the 1968 election the LCL won the seats of Murray and Chaffey and formed a one-seat
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 ...
. If just 21 LCL votes were Labor votes in Murray in 1968, Labor would have retained its majority. The LCL won only three metropolitan seats in 1965 and 1968 – Burnside,
Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ...
and Torrens. The most populous metropolitan seats (13) had as much as 5-10 times the number of voters than the least populous rural seats (26), despite around two-thirds of the population located in the metropolitan area − at the 1968 election the rural seat of Frome had 4,500 formal votes, while the metropolitan seat of Enfield had 42,000 formal votes. Enlarged from 39 to 47 prior to the 1970 election, the House was also redistributed to comprise 28 metropolitan seats and 19 rural seats, an increase of 15 metropolitan seats, more than double. At the 1965 election Labor held eleven of 26 rural seats, by the 1977 election Labor held just two of 14 rural seats. Since the 1985 election there have been 34 metropolitan seats and 13 rural seats. On the below boundaries, with voting patterns from either the Labor landslide at the 2006 election, or the more balanced result at the 2014 election, Labor would regardless hold about just ten of 39 seats.


See also

* Bjelkemander, a similar malapportionment in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, named after
Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005) was an Australian politician and farmer who served as premier of Queensland between 1968 and 1987, for almost 20 years, as state leader of the National Party (earlier known as the C ...
. (1970s-1980s)


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *Jaensch, Dean. (2006) When the state voting system defies all logic, The Advertiser, p18, 26 April 2006.


External links


State and federal election results since 1890State Electoral Office South Australia.
{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 Political controversies in Australia Politics of South Australia Gerrymandering Adelaide Establishment Political terminology in Australia