The 2014 South Australian state election elected members to the 53rd Parliament of South Australia on 15 March 2014, to fill all 47 seats in the House of Assembly (lower house) and 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house). The 12-year-incumbent Australian Labor Party (SA) government, led by Premier Jay Weatherill, won its fourth consecutive four-year term in government, a record 16 years of Labor government, defeating the opposition Liberal Party of Australia (SA), led by Opposition Leader Steven Marshall.
The election resulted in a hung parliament with 23 seats for Labor and 22 for the Liberals. The balance of power rested with the two crossbench independents, Bob Such and Geoff Brock. Such did not indicate whom he would support in a minority government before he went on medical leave for a brain tumour, diagnosed one week after the election. University of Adelaide Professor and Political Commentator Clem McIntyre said the absence of Such virtually guaranteed that Brock would back Labor – with 24 seats required to govern, Brock duly provided support to the incumbent Labor government, allowing Weatherill to continue in office as head of a minority government. McIntyre said:
If Geoff Brock had gone with the Liberals, then the Parliament would have effectively been tied 23 to 23, so once Bob Such became ill and stepped away then Geoff Brock, I think had no choice but to side with Labor.
It is Labor's longest-serving South Australian government and the second longest-serving South Australian government behind the Playmander-assisted Liberal and Country League government of 1933-1965, which served first under Richard Layton Butler and then Thomas Playford IV. It is also the third time that any party has won four consecutive election victories in South Australia, after the LCL's 10 consecutive victories from 1933 to 1965 (the last eight under Playford) and Labor's four consecutive victories between 1970 and 1977 under Don Dunstan.
Recent hung parliaments occurred when Labor came to government in 2002 and prior to that when the state Liberal retained government in 1997 which saw the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, created in 1974, win re-election for the first time.
The Liberals were reduced to 21 seats in May 2014 when Martin Hamilton-Smith became an independent and entered cabinet with Brock. Both Hamilton-Smith and Brock agreed to support the Labor government on confidence and supply while retaining the right to otherwise vote on conscience. Labor went from minority to majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election by five votes from a 7.3 percent two-party swing which was triggered by the death of Such. Despite this, the Jay Weatherill Labor government kept Brock and Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority.
Like federal elections, South Australia has compulsory voting, uses full-preference instant-runoff voting in the lower house and single transferable vote group voting tickets in the proportionally represented upper house. The election was conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), an independent body answerable to Parliament.
Results
House of Assembly
The Liberals took three seats from Labor resulting in a hung parliament with 23 seats for Labor and 22 for the Liberals. The balance of power rested with the two crossbench independents, Bob Such and Geoff Brock. Such did not indicate who he would support in a minority government before he went on medical leave for a brain tumour, diagnosed one week after the election. University of Adelaide Professor and Political Commentator Clem McIntyre said the absence of Such virtually guaranteed that Brock would back Labor – with 24 seats required to govern, Brock duly provided support to the incumbent Labor government, allowing Premier Jay Weatherill to continue in office as head of a minority government. McIntyre said:
If Geoff Brock had gone with the Liberals, then the Parliament would have effectively been tied 23 to 23, so once Bob Such became ill and stepped away then Geoff Brock, I think had no choice but to side with Labor.
In a joint press conference with Weatherill, Brock said Such's absence prompted him to make his decision a week sooner than planned. The new government was sworn in on 26 March, with Brock in cabinet as Minister for Regional Development and Local Government. The Liberals were reduced to 21 seats in May 2014 when Martin Hamilton-Smith became an independent and entered cabinet as Minister for Investment and Trade, Defence Industries and Veterans Affairs. Both Hamilton-Smith and Brock agreed to support the Labor government on confidence and supply while retaining the right to otherwise vote on conscience. Labor achieved majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election by five votes from a 7.3 percent two-party swing which was triggered by the death of Such. Despite this, the Jay Weatherill Labor government kept Brock and Hamilton-Smith in cabinet, giving the government a 26 to 21 parliamentary majority.
Independents: Bob Such, Geoff Brock
Although the state-wide two-party vote (2PP) was 47.0% Labor v 53.0% Liberal, the Adelaide metropolitan area containing over 75% of South Australia's population and 72% of seats (34 of 47) recorded a 2PP of 51.5% Labor v 48.5% Liberal.Metropolitan 2PP correctly calculated by adding raw metro 2PP vote numbers from the 34 metro seats, both Labor and Liberal, then dividing Labor's raw metro 2PP vote from the total, which revealed a Labor metropolitan 2PP of 51.54%. Obtained raw metro 2PP vote numbers from ECSA 2014 election statistics , ECSA 2014 Heysen election and ABC 2014 Fisher by-election.
Seat movement The following seats changed hands: Seat Pre-2014 Swing Post-2014 Party Member Margin Margin Member Party Bright Labor Chloë Fox 0.53.73.3 David Speirs Liberal Hartley Labor Grace Portolesi 0.1 2.6 2.4 Vincent Tarzia Liberal Mitchell Labor Alan Sibbons 2.4 3.6 1.2 Corey Wingard Liberal Mount Gambier Independent Don Pegler 0.5 7.7 7.2 Troy Bell Liberal
Pendulum
The following Mackerras pendulum works by lining up all of the seats according to the percentage point margin on a two candidate preferred basis based on the 2014 results. "Safe" seats require a swing of over 10 per cent to change, "fairly safe" seats require a swing of between 6 and 10 per cent, while "marginal" seats require a swing of less than 6 per cent.
Labor seats (23)MarginalNewlandTom KenyonALP1.4%ColtonPaul CaicaALP1.5%ElderAnnabel DiganceALP1.8%AshfordSteph KeyALP1.9%FloreyFrances BedfordALP2.5%LightTony PiccoloALP2.8%WrightJennifer RankineALP3.0%TorrensDana WortleyALP3.5%LeeStephen MullighanALP4.5%MawsonLeon BignellALP5.6%Fairly safeGilesEddie HughesALP7.0%Little ParaLee OdenwalderALP7.4%KaurnaChris PictonALP7.7%EnfieldJohn RauALP8.1%NapierJon GeeALP9.1%ReynellKatrine HildyardALP10.0%SafePort AdelaideSusan CloseALP10.6%West TorrensTom KoutsantonisALP10.8%TaylorLeesa VlahosALP11.6%PlayfordJack SnellingALP12.6%CheltenhamJay WeatherillALP14.3%RamsayZoe BettisonALP18.4%CroydonMichael AtkinsonALP18.9% Liberal seats (22) MarginalMitchellCorey WingardLIB1.2%AdelaideRachel SandersonLIB2.4%HartleyVincent TarziaLIB2.4%DunstanSteven MarshallLIB3.1%BrightDavid SpeirsLIB3.3%Fairly safeMt GambierTroy BellLIB7.2% v INDDavenportIain EvansLIB8.1%UnleyDavid PisoniLIB9.8%MorialtaJohn GardnerLIB10.0%SafeHeysenIsobel RedmondLIB11.0% v GRNWaiteMartin Hamilton-SmithLIB11.4%GoyderSteven GriffithsLIB12.9%MorphettDuncan McFetridgeLIB12.9%FinnissMichael PengillyLIB13.8%KavelMark GoldsworthyLIB14.0%SchubertStephan KnollLIB14.6%HammondAdrian PederickLIB14.6%BraggVickie ChapmanLIB18.7%StuartDan van Holst PellekaanLIB20.5%ChaffeyTim WhetstoneLIB25.1%MacKillopMitch WilliamsLIB26.7%FlindersPeter TreloarLIB29.2%Independent seats (2)FromeGeoff BrockIND8.8% v LIBFisherBob SuchIndependent MP for Fisher Bob Such, without indicating confidence and supply support, took immediate medical leave for a brain tumour, diagnosed one week after the election, with his death occurring later that year. Labor achieved majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election.IND9.4% v LIB
Legislative Council
Members of the South Australian Legislative CouncilLabor (7)Liberal (8)Green (2)Family First (2) *Xenophon Team (1)Dignity for Disability (1) elected 2014: Russell Wortley Ian Hunter Tung Ngo Kyam Maher elected 2014: Rob Lucas John Dawkins Michelle Lensink Andrew McLachlan elected 2014: Mark Parnell elected 2014: Dennis Hood elected 2014: John Darley elected 2010: Gerry Kandelaars 1 Gail Gago John Gazzola elected 2010: David Ridgway Stephen Wade Terry Stephens Jing Lee elected 2010: Tammy Franks elected 2010: Robert Brokenshire elected 2010: Kelly VincentIndependent (ex Labor) (1) elected 2010: Bernard Finnigan 2
1 Appointed by casual vacancy in 2011 2 Elected from Labor ticket, became independent on 21 April 2011 “Mr Bernard Finnigan.” Parliament.Sa.Gov.Au. Retrieved 12 Aug 2026. following suspension from the ALP.http://aap.newscentre.com.au/acci/110503/library/workplace_relations/25593488.html
* On 25 April 2017, it was announced that the Family First Party would merge with the Australian Conservatives, with its two members of the South Australian Legislative Council joining the party. The Family First executive voted to dissolve the party, and in accordance with Australian law, they donated all their assets to the Australian Conservative Party.
Date The last state election was held on 20 March 2010 to elect members for the House of Assembly and half of the members in the Legislative Council. In South Australia, section 28 of the Constitution Act 1934, as amended in 2001, directs that parliaments have fixed four-year terms, and elections must be held on the third Saturday in March every four years unless this date falls the day after Good Friday, occurs within the same month as a Commonwealth election, or the conduct of the election could be adversely affected by a state disaster. Section 28 also states that the Governor may also dissolve the Assembly and call an election for an earlier date if the Government has lost the confidence of the Assembly or a bill of special importance has been rejected by the Legislative Council. Section 41 states that both the Council and the Assembly may also be dissolved simultaneously if a deadlock occurs between them.
The Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2013 introduced set dates for writs for General elections in South Australia. The writ sets the dates for the close of the electoral roll and the close of nominations for an election. The Electoral Act 1985 requires that, for a general election, the writ be issued 28 days before the date fixed for polling (S47(2a)) and the electoral roll be closed at 12 noon, 6 days after the issue of the writ (S48(3(a)(i). The close of nominations will be at 12 noon 3 days after the close of rolls (Electoral Act 1985 S48(4)(a) and S4(1)). Since the previous election, five new parties had registered: Fishing and Lifestyle Party, Liberal Democratic Party, Multicultural Progress Party, Stop Population Growth Now, and Katter's Australian Party. Six were no longer registered: The Democrats, Save the RAH, Gamers 4 Croydon, Democratic Labor Party, One Nation, and United Party.
Polling Day for the 2014 South Australian State election was Saturday 15 March 2014 from 8am until 6pm. The Issue of Writ for the 2014 South Australian State election was Saturday 15 February 2014. The Electoral Roll closed at 12 noon, Friday 21 February 2014. Nominations for candidates wishing to stand for election closed at 12 noon, Monday 24 February 2014, with the ballot order for both houses drawn and released shortly after, followed by close and release of upper house above-the-line preference tickets. Lower house how-to-vote card lodgements closed at 12 noon, 7 March 2014.