1979 South Australian state election

1979 South Australian state election
← 1977 15 September 1979 (1979-09-15) 1982 →
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 David Tonkin Des Corcoran
Party Liberal Labor
Leader since 24 July 1975 15 February 1979
Leader's seat Bragg Hartley
Seats before 18 27
Seats won 24 20
Seat change Increase6 Decrease7
Popular vote 352,343 300,277
Percentage 47.94% 40.86%
Swing Increase6.73pp Decrease10.78pp
TPP 55.0% 45.0%
TPP swing Increase8.40pp Decrease8.40pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
DEM
NAT
Leader Robin Millhouse Peter Blacker
Party Democrats National
Leader's seat Mitcham Flinders
Seats before 1 1
Seats won 1 1
Seat change Steady Steady
Popular vote 60,797 14,013
Percentage 8.30% 1.91%
Swing Increase4.82pp Increase0.31pp
Premier before election

Des Corcoran
Labor

Elected Premier

David Tonkin
Liberal

State elections were held in South Australia on 15 September 1979. 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 Des Corcoran was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition David Tonkin.

The Liberals originally won 25 seats, but a court decision overturned their win in Norwood. Labor won the Norwood by-election, which meant the Liberals held 24 seats, with Labor on 20 seats, and 1 each to the Australian Democrats, National Country Party, and an Independent Labor.