The Rann government was the state executive government of South Australia led by Premier of South Australia Mike Rann of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2002 to 2011.
Rann is a former Australian politician who served as the 44th Premier of South Australia. He succeeded Lynn Arnold as state Labor leader and South Australian Leader of the Opposition in 1994. He led Labor to minority government at the 2002 election, before attaining a landslide win at the 2006 election. The Rann government was elected to a third four-year term at the 2010 election, retaining majority government despite a swing − giving Labor a record 12 years in government. He resigned as Premier in October 2011 after a year of poor opinion polling saw him lose party support and was succeeded by Jay Weatherill. Rann is the third-longest serving Premier of South Australia behind Thomas Playford IV and John Bannon − the third-longest serving Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 2002 behind Mick O'Halloran and Robert Richards − and served a record 17 years as South Australian Labor parliamentary leader from 1994 to 2011. He was a South Australian MP in the House of Assembly from the 1985 election and Father of the House from the 2010 election until his parliamentary resignation on 13 January 2012.
The Labor government Rann formerly led, through Weatherill, became the longest-serving South Australian Labor government and the second longest-serving South Australian government behind the Playmander-assisted Thomas Playford IV. Aside from Playford, following the 2014 election it is the second time that any party has won four consecutive state elections in South Australia, the first occurred when Don Dunstan led Labor to four consecutive victories between the 1970 election and the 1977 election. Following the 2014 election, 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. Recent hung parliaments occurred when Labor came to government at the 2002 election and prior to that at the 1997 election which saw the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia, created in 1974, win re-election for the first time.
Achievements of the Rann government include job numbers raised and unemployment lowered, funding increased for health and education, the expansion of mining and defence industries, investment in wind power in South Australia making it the leader of wind power in Australia, and funding increased for new projects including: the Adelaide tram extension and new vehicle purchase, commencement of the rail electrification of Adelaide's train lines, construction commencement of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval, expansion of the Adelaide Convention Centre, upgrade of the River Torrens Riverbank precinct, redevelopment of the Adelaide Airport, construction of the Port Stanvac Desalination Plant, and the undertaking of various major road works including major upgrades to the North–South Corridor and South Road. His government also introduced Adelaide's Thinker in Residence program, and increased funding to the Festival of Ideas, WOMADelaide, the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Adelaide Festival of Arts, with the closeness of events on the calendar earning the third month of the year the title of "Mad March". South Australia achieved a AAA credit rating under the Rann Labor government, prompting Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan to praise Labor's economic management. Rann was often the most popular Premier in the country, with his approach to government generally moderate and crisis-free. Following the 2006 election landslide where Labor was re-elected with a historic 56.8 percent two-party-preferred vote, Newspoll early in 2007 saw Rann peak at a historic 64 percent Preferred Premier rating with a historic 61 percent Labor two-party-preferred vote. University of Adelaide Professor of Politics Clem Macintyre said that after John Bannon and the State Bank collapse, Rann had to re-establish Labor's credentials as an economic manager as a matter of urgency, and "in that sense Rann had a whole lot of priorities to concentrate on that Don Dunstan didn't even think about", with a legacy built on economic achievements, achieving the triple-A credit rating, as well as its capacity to deliver infrastructure projects.
Electoral background Following the 2002 election, Rann Labor defeated the Kerin Liberal minority government, ending two terms (eight years) of Brown/Olsen/Kerin Liberal governments. Labor formed their own minority government before winning in a landslide at the 2006 election. Labor was elected to a third four-year term at the 2010 election, retaining majority government despite a swing − giving Labor a record 12 years in government. Rann successor Jay Weatherill would go on to form a minority government after the 2014 election, however later that year a majority government was formed resulting from a by-election outcome, giving state Labor a record 16 years in government and will attempt 20 years from a fifth four-year term at the 2018 election. It is South Australia's second longest-serving South Australian government behind the Playmander-assisted Thomas Playford IV. Aside from Playford, for the second time, a party had won four consecutive state elections in South Australia, which occurred first for the second time when Don Dunstan led Labor to four consecutive victories between 1970 and 1977. Other recent hung parliament elections occurred when Labor came to government in 2002, and immediately 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. 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.Fisher by-election win for Labor gives Weatherill Government majority in SA: ABC 13 December 2014
Rann government
First term
First elected Leader of the Opposition following the 1993 election, he remained in the position until the 2002 election. The Labor opposition took two seats from the Liberal minority government, now headed by Rob Kerin. This left Labor one short of majority government while the Liberals were four seats short. Despite this, it initially appeared Kerin would remain in office with the support of four independents. However, one of those independents, former Liberal Peter Lewis, agreed to support Labor in return for a constitutional convention and being named Speaker. Lewis' decision was controversial, prompting Kerin to announce that since the Liberals had won a bare majority of the two-party vote, he would stay in office until Labor demonstrated it had support on the floor of the House of Assembly. Three weeks of deadlock ended when the new legislature met for the first time. With Lewis presiding, Kerin proposed a motion of confidence in his government. The motion failed, and Kerin's government immediately resigned.Barker, Ann: Premier crowned in Sth Australia, The 7.30 Report (ABC), 5 March 2002. Rann then advised Governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson that he could form a government, and was duly sworn in the next day.
In his first term Rann announced: a total ban on the further privatisation of state assets; the introduction of shop trading on Sundays and weekday evenings across the Adelaide metro area;"Shop Talk" (22/08/03) Shopping Centre Council www.scca.org.au legislated to raise the school leaving age for the first time in 42 years to 16 (later to 17);http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/ 12 November 2009 "School Retention Highest in 15 Years" a central commitment to restore the state's finances to a AAA credit rating;http://www.stockjournal.com.au 5 June 2003 "Government's play for AAA leaves us all feeling flat" established the Economic Development Board headed by mining magnate Robert Champion de Crespigny; launched a successful campaign to secure the construction of new Air Warfare Destroyers in Port Adelaide and committed the government to build the $400 million Techport maritime precinct and shiplift.Sydney Morning Herald, May 2005, "Controversial Firm Wins $6 billion Destroyer Project"
The Rann government pursued new mining projects and introduced the PACE scheme to encourage and subsidise mining exploration. The first term also saw the opening, by Rann, Prime Minister John Howard and NT Chief Minister Clare Martin of the Adelaide to Darwin Railway, the longest north-south railway in the world;ABC News 20 January 2003, Darwin's Day in History: the Train Arrives a major redevelopment of Adelaide Airport with some state funding, opened by Rann and Howard in October 2005; a commitment to extend the Glenelg to Adelaide tramline and modernise the tram fleet;ABC News, 13 October 2007, "Official Opening for Tram Extension" the announcement that both the US Carnegie Mellon University and the UK's Royal Institution for science education would establish in Adelaide.
Rann and Attorney-General Michael Atkinson launched a major law and order initiative with the toughening of laws and sentencing for a wide range of crimes including bushfire arson;Sydney Morning Herald, 11 February 2009; "Crackdown on Arson Working" a big increase in police numbersABC News 21 October 2003 "Call for regions to benefit from police numbers" and the introduction of DNA testing of prisoners as well as those charged or suspected of crimes, with the most wide reaching legislation in Australia.ABC News, The World Today, 18 October 2002; "SA to extend DNA Testing Powers" In 2003 Rann launched the SA Urban Forests initiative to plant a million trees in the Adelaide metro area. This target was later increased to 3 million trees by 2014 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
In social policy the Rann government established the Social Inclusion Initiative, headed by Monsignor David Cappo, to examine ways to tackle entrenched areas of disadvantage such as rough sleeping homelessness, with the establishment of Common Ground Adelaide and Street to Home initiatives. Rann's government also tackled poor school retention rates with the ICAN initiativePhillipa Duigan: ICAN, www.ican.sa.edu.au/10 March 2011 and the introduction of the comprehensive Every Chance for Every Child home visiting program for all new babies and their parents."A Childhood Revolution-University of South Australia", www.unisa.edu.au, 24 February 2015, "Every Chance for Every Child", 12 July 2012, www.decd.sa.gov.au/ In 2002 Rann launched the Premier's Reading Challenge school literacy initiative, embraced by 95% of public and private schools in South Australia.Center for National Policy, Washington DC, What States Can Do, 3 May 2012 In 2002 Rann announced and funded the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence program, an idea he developed in Opposition, which brought leading intellectuals from around the world to Adelaide to assist him and the government to initiate reforms and tackle public policy challenges as varied as climate change, early childhood education, city planning and design, ageing policy and science education.http://www.thinkers.gov.au
In May 2002, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the South Australian Film Corporation, Rann announced the establishment of the Adelaide Film Festival with additional funds to enable it to invest in innovative films.Adelaide Film Festival Wiki In England in June 2002 Rann met with WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel to secure the future of WOMADelaide and make it an annual event.