1985 South Australian state election

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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 Third party   NAT Leader John Bannon John Olsen Peter Blacker Party Labor Liberal National Leader since 18 September 1979 10 November 1982 Leader's seat Ross Smith Custance Flinders Seats before 23 21 1 Seats won 27 16 1 Seat change 4 5 Popular vote 393,652 344,337 14,056 Percentage 48.19% 42.15% 1.72% Swing 1.91 0.52 0.60 TPP 53.2% 46.8% TPP swing 2.2 2.2
Premier before election John Bannon Labor Elected Premier John Bannon Labor

State elections were held in South Australia on 7 December 1985. 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 John Bannon increased its majority, and defeated the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition John Olsen.

Background

Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia on 7 December 1985, which saw John Bannon and the Australian Labor Party win a second successive term, against the Liberal Party of Australia opposition led by John Olsen.

Labor won the election with an increased majority–at the time, the biggest majority it had held since the end of the Playmander, a record that would stand until 2006. The Liberal Party retained John Olsen as leader, partly because his main rival Dean Brown lost his seat to Independent Liberal Stan Evans. Evans rejoined the Liberal Party soon after the election.

In the South Australian Legislative Council, Labor won one seat from the Liberals, while the Democrats maintained their 2 seats. This shift gave the Australian Democrats sole balance of power. They would continue to hold it until the 1997 election.

Key dates

• Issue of writ: 10 November 1985
• Close of nominations: 22 November 1985
• Polling day: 7 December 1985
• Return of writ: On or before 2 January 1986

Results

House of Assembly

Legislative Council

Seats changing hands

• In addition, Independent MP for Elizabeth, Martyn Evans retained his seat after winning it from Labor at the 1984 by-election.
• Sitting Liberal MP for Fisher, Stan Evans quit the party and contested Davenport as an Independent, and won.

Redistribution affected seats

• Sitting Labor MP for Newland, John Klunder instead contested Todd, and won.
• Sitting Liberal MP for Todd, Scott Ashenden instead contested Newland, and lost.

Post-election pendulum