South Australian state election, 1997

South Australian state election, 1997

11 October 1997 (1997-10-11)
All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly 24 seats were needed for a majority 11 (of the 22) seats in the South Australian Legislative Council
First party Second party   Leader John Olsen Mike Rann Party Liberal Labor Leader since 28 November 1996 5 November 1994 Leader's seat Kavel Ramsay Seats before 36 seats 11 seats Seats won 23 seats 21 seats Seat change 13 10 Percentage 51.5% 48.5% Swing 9.4% 9.4%
Premier before election John Olsen Liberal Resulting Premier John Olsen Liberal

State elections were held in South Australia on 11 October 1997. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Premier of South Australia John Olsen defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mike Rann, forming a minority government with the SA Nationals and independent MPs.

Background

Following the 1993 landslide to the Liberals, ending 11 years of Labor government, Labor now led by Mike Rann held just 11 seats in the House of Assembly. The Liberals held 36 seats and there were no independent or minor party members in the House of Assembly. They had held a record 37, but lost one at the 1994 Torrens by-election. However the Liberals were suffering from heightened internal tensions. Premier Dean Brown had been toppled by Industry Minister and factional rival John Olsen in a 1996 party-room coup. Olsen had been in office for just over 10 months on election day.

Results

Post-election Pendulum

Metro SA: ALP in red, Liberal in blue. These boundaries are based on the 2006 electoral redistribution.

Rural SA: ALP in red, Liberal in blue, Independents in white, Nationals in green. These boundaries are based on the 2006 electoral redistribution.

Legacy

The 1997 result put Labor within striking distance of winning government at the next election in 2002. John Olsen was left with internal disquiet over the leadership challenge and poor election result while his opponent, Mike Rann, was seen to have 'won' the campaign despite losing the election.

On 6 February 2007, Mike Rann told parliament that some in the Liberal party had leaked information to him before and during the election campaign. The following quote by Rann is from Hansard on 6/2/2007 :

"You asked me a question and I will give you a 55-minute answer, because you will remember one day when I came into this place and I had, I think, 880 pages of cabinet and other documents... I remember being telephoned and told to go to a certain cafe, not in a white car but in a taxi, and then to walk in a zigzag fashion through the streets of a suburb, where I was to be handed cabinet documents. So much for their cabinet solidarity and cabinet confidentiality! There was a queue on the telephone telling us what had happened the day before. It was the same during the 1997 election campaign. People thought, `How does this guy (the leader of the opposition at the time) know intuitively exactly what John Olsen is doing the next day?' It was because I was being phoned and told! So, do not talk to me about cabinet solidarity lest I come in here and start naming names, which will set off another generation of disputation on the other side of the house. Anyway, cabinet approved, among other things, on 20 December 2006 minister Lomax-Smith's proposed statement and approved her to announce publicly that she opposed the proposal in cabinet. She did so because we agreed that she should be able to do so. Somehow I do not think that John Olsen agreed to what happened when I was getting the phone call at 6 o'clock in the morning and at midnight, and walking in a zigzag pattern through suburbs to be handed a cabinet bag and cabinet documents. We have a different approach. We agreed to it. It was a cabinet decision to agree to it. So, please, ask me some more questions, because there were two different camps involved in this leaking to the then poor unpopular leader of the opposition, and I am more than happy to name names."

See also

• Candidates of the South Australian state election, 1997
• Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1997-2002
• Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 1997-2002
• Results of the South Australian state election, 1997 (House of Assembly)
• Results of the South Australian state election, 1997 (Legislative Council)

References

• 1997 election maps and results: Antony Green ABC archive
• History of South Australian elections 1857-2006, volume 1: ECSA
• "Background leading up to the election/Liberals in power". Crikey. Archived from the original on 26 October 2001.

Political Parties

• Australian Labor Party
• Liberal Party of Australia
• Australian Greens
• Australian Democrats
• The Nationals

Specific