The 2022 South Australian state election was held on 19 March 2022 to elect members to the 55th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly (the lower house, whose members were elected at the 2018 election), and half the seats in the Legislative Council (the upper house, last filled at the 2014 election) were up for re-election.
The one-term incumbent Liberal government, led by Premier Steven Marshall, was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas. Marshall conceded to Malinauskas about three hours after the polls closed. It is the first time since 1982, and only the fourth time since 1933, that a sitting government in South Australia has been defeated after a single term.
Labor won 27 seats in the lower house, while the Liberals retained 16 seats—with the remaining four seats won by independents. The new ministry was sworn in two days after the election, and Malinauskas became the state's 47th Premier.
In the 22-seat upper house where 11 seats were up for election, the result was five Labor, four Liberal, one Green, and one One Nation, for a total of nine Labor government seats, eight Liberal opposition seats, with five crossbenchers—two Green, two SA Best, and one One Nation. Consequently, the new Labor government would require an additional three non-government votes to pass legislation; however, the Liberal upper house President was unexpectedly re-elected to the Presidency, which gave the Labor government nine of 21 seats during votes on the floor, meaning that only an additional two non-government votes are required to pass legislation.
Like federal elections, South Australia has compulsory voting, uses full-preference instant-runoff voting for single-member electorates in the lower house, and optional preference single transferable voting in the proportionally represented upper house. The election was conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), an independent body answerable to Parliament.
Background House of Assembly
In the House of Assembly at the 2018 election, the Liberal opposition formed a two-seat majority government with 25 of 47 seats. The former 16-year four-term Labor government went in to opposition with 19 seats. The crossbench was represented by 3 independents: Frances Bedford, Troy Bell and Geoff Brock. The Liberals won 51.9% of the statewide two-party-preferred vote, which was actually a slight swing toward Labor.
Government loses its majority (2021) The Liberal Party's already slender majority was further reduced when in, February 2020, Sam Duluk, the member for Waite, had his Liberal membership suspended due to his personal conduct at a 2019 Christmas party, which led to him being charged with assault by police. Duluk was found not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court in August 2021, though he remained on the crossbench as an independent.
In February 2021, Fraser Ellis, the Liberal member for Narungga, was charged by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) with 23 counts of deception, relating to 78 fraudulent claims over the alleged misuse of a travel allowance totalling more than $18,000. The ICAC charges led to Ellis resigning from the Liberal Party and moving to the crossbench as an independent, which officially reduced the Liberals into a minority government. Later that year, Dan Cregan, the Liberal member for Kavel, resigned from the party to sit as an independent, citing the government's failure to manage population growth in the Adelaide Hills. Several days after his resignation from the party, Cregan was elected as Speaker of the House of Assembly after a ballot, as the government's preferred candidate lacked sufficient support in the Assembly.
Though in minority, the government did not fall, as it never lost a vote on confidence or supply; in any event, Ellis and other independents had stated they would support the Marshall government on such matters.
Legislative Council
After the 2018 election, the numbers in the Legislative Council were 8 Liberal, 8 Labor, 2 SA Best, 2 Greens, 1 Conservative and 1 Advance SA. Conservative MLC Dennis Hood, who had been elected as a Family First MLC in 2014, defected to the Liberals nine days after the 2018 state election. In 2020, John Dawkins was expelled from the Liberal Party for breaking party rules by nominating himself for President of the Legislative Council. The 22 seat upper house composition before the 2022 election was therefore 8 Liberal, 8 Labor, 2 SA Best, 2 Greens, 1 Advance SA, and 1 independent.
Of these members: 4 Liberal, 4 Labor, 2 SA Best and 1 Green have terms which continue until 2026; and 4 Liberal, 4 Labor, 1 Green, 1 Advance SA and 1 independent were up for re-election in 2022, though the independent Dawkins did not contest the election.
Campaign Labor campaigned extensively on improving the state's healthcare infrastructure by 'fixing the ramping crisis', pledging to increase the amount of ambulances, hospital beds, nurses and doctors in order to combat long-standing overcrowding of hospitals and ramping of ambulances.
As part of an effort to secure the electoral district of Kavel, Labor also promised to build a new hospital in Mount Barker. The MP for Kavel, Dan Cregan, had resigned from the Liberals in October 2021 to become an independent, citing insufficient government investment in the district; among Cregan's demands included the construction of a new hospital.
The Australian Christian Lobby campaigned for SA election candidates who opposed late-term abortions and who promote more socially conservative policies.
Pauline Hanson's One Nation ran in its first South Australian election since 2006. The newly formed Family First Party (which is different from the previous Family First Party), the Australian Family Party and Sustainable Australia ran for the first time as well.
Candidates
Registered parties
Parties registered with the Electoral Commission of South Australia.
Liberal Party of Australia (South Australian Division) Australian Labor Party (SA Branch) Greens South Australia SA Best Advance SA National Party of Australia (SA) Child Protection Party Animal Justice Party
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Australian Family Party Family First Party Inc Real Change SA Legalise Cannabis South Australia Party Liberal Democratic Party SA Party – Stop Overdevelopment & Corruption
Polling Voting intention
+House of Assembly (lower house) polling Date Firm Primary vote 2PP vote LIB ALP BST GRN OTH LIB ALP 19 Mar 2022 election 35.7% 40% 0.2% 9.1% 15% 45.4% 54.6%11–17 Mar 2022Newspoll38%41% – 9%12%46%54%7–13 Mar 2022YouGov33%41% – 11%15%44%56%18–24 Feb 2022Newspoll37%39% – 10%14%47%53%1–14 Feb 2022Dynata35%37%4%7%17%49%51%15–29 Jul 2021Dynata38%34%5%10%12%51%49%24 Feb – 1 Mar 2021YouGov43%36%6%10%5%51%49%10–16 Sep 2020YouGov46%35%5%10%4%53%47%6–11 Mar 2020YouGov39%38%7%11%5%47%53%12–14 Mar 2019YouGov–Galaxy42%37%7%7%10%52%48% 17 Mar 2018 election 38% 32.8% 14.2% 6.7% 8.4% 51.9% 48.1%13–15 Mar 2018Newspoll 34%31%17%8%10% – –
+Legislative Council (upper house) polling Date Firm Primary vote LIB ALP GRN BST ONP OTH1–14 Feb 2022Dynata33%33%9%5%5%1%13%15–29 Jul 2021Dynata36%32%9%6%6%1%10%
Preferred premier and satisfaction polling
DateFirmBetter PremierSatisfiedDissatisfiedSatisfiedDissatisfiedMarshallMalinauskasMarshallMalinauskas11–17 Mar 2022Newspoll41%44%47%46%54%30%7–13 Mar 2022YouGov40%45%46%48%51%32%18–24 Feb 2022Newspoll39%46%48%47%51%31%24 Feb – 1 Mar 2021YouGov50%30%60%–46%–10–16 Sep 2020YouGov54%26%68%16%44%22%6–11 Mar 2020YouGov38%36%37%41%44%26%12–14 Mar 2019YouGov–Galaxy46%26%––––17 Mar 2018 electionMarshallWeatherillMarshallWeatherill13–15 Mar 2018Newspoll33%38%30%50%33%53%^ Remainder were "uncommitted" to either leader.
Redistribution and pre-redistribution pendulum
To produce "fair" electoral boundaries, the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA) has been required following the 1989 election to redraw boundaries after each election through a "fairness clause" in the state constitution, with the objective 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 in terms of the two-party-preferred vote calculated in all seats regardless of any differing two-candidate-preferred vote. As it was interpreted from 1991 to 2016, the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission (EDBC) drew boundaries to try and ensure that the party winning the majority of the state-wide two-party preferred vote would also win a majority of the seats in the House of Assembly; however, the Weatherill government repealed the fairness provision in 2017 so that it was no longer the second criteria for redistributions after equality.
Yet the 2020 redistribution showed that the fairness criteria has not been removed from South Australian redistributions. The EDBC ruled that it could still consider fairness under a general provision that permits the Commission to "have regard to any other matters it thinks relevant". Having been legislatively required in the past, fairness will continue to be allowed as a matter for consideration in the future.
The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission released a new draft redistribution in August 2020, as calculated from the 27 Liberal−20 Labor seat count by two-party vote as recorded in all 47 seats at the 2014 state election. The net change proposed retained a 27 Liberal−20 Labor notional seat count on a TPP basis when not considering elected independents.
The pendulum below shows the post-redistribution margins, in percentage points, calculated by ABC’s Antony Green, taking into account seats held by independents who are contesting their current seats at the next election, which differ somewhat to the margins calculated by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission that does not take into account currently elected independents. The EDBC is the only redistribution authority in Australia that is required to examine voting patterns in drawing electoral boundaries, and in doing so, assume that the proportion of each party's vote in the declaration vote (postal, pre-poll and absent votes) is evenly distributed across the whole of each former electorate. Antony Green's margin estimates are more accurately calculated using declaration votes from the redistributed polling booths.
Retiring members are shown in italic text. Liberal seats (23) MarginalNewlandRichard HarveyLIB0.1KingPaula LuethenLIB0.6AdelaideRachel SandersonLIB1.0ElderCarolyn PowerLIB1.9Fairly safeColtonMatt CowdreyLIB6.2HartleyVincent TarziaLIB6.6DunstanSteven MarshallLIB7.5HeysenJosh TeagueLIB7.6DavenportSteve MurrayLIB8.2BlackDavid SpeirsLIB9.2MorialtaJohn GardnerLIB9.4SafeGibsonCorey WingardLIB10.0MorphettStephen PattersonLIB11.0UnleyDavid PisoniLIB11.5StuartDan van Holst PellekaanLIB11.7FinnissDavid BashamLIB14.5SchubertStephan KnollLIB15.6HammondAdrian PederickLIB16.9BraggVickie ChapmanLIB16.9ChaffeyTim WhetstoneLIB18.0FromeGeoff Brock (IND)LIB18.1Very safeMacKillopNick McBrideLIB25.2FlindersPeter TreloarLIB26.1 Labor seats (20)MarginalMawsonLeon BignellALP0.7WrightBlair BoyerALP3.1BadcoeJayne StinsonALP4.8LeeStephen MullighanALP5.3TorrensDana WortleyALP5.7Fairly safeEnfieldAndrea MichaelsALP6.2Hurtle ValeNat CookALP8.3LightTony PiccoloALP8.4ReynellKatrine HildyardALP9.5SafeTaylorJon GeeALP11.9FloreyFrances Bedford (IND)ALP13.5West TorrensTom KoutsantonisALP14.2GilesEddie HughesALP14.9KaurnaChris PictonALP16.0CheltenhamJoe SzakacsALP16.7Port AdelaideSusan CloseALP16.8ElizabethLee OdenwalderALP17.2RamsayZoe BettisonALP18.5PlayfordMichael BrownALP19.0Very safeCroydonPeter MalinauskasALP23.3Independent seats (4)WaiteSam DulukIND7.4 LIB v ALPMt GambierTroy BellIND10.3 v LIBKavelDan CreganIND14.5 LIB v ALPNarunggaFraser EllisIND18.2 LIB v ALP