Leader of the Opposition (South Australia)

Australian political position

Leader of the Opposition

Incumbent
Vincent Tarzia

since 12 August 2024

Term length| While leader of the largest political party not in government
Inaugural holder| John Colton
Formation| 1884

The leader of the opposition in South Australia is the leader of the largest minority political party or coalition of parties, known as the opposition, in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia. By convention, the leader of the opposition is a member of the House of Assembly. The leader acts as the public face of the opposition, and acts as a chief critic of the government and ultimately attempt to portray the opposition as a feasible alternate government. They are also given certain additional rights under parliamentary standing orders, such as extended time limits for speeches. Should the opposition win an election, the leader of the opposition will be nominated to become the premier of South Australia.

Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, MPs tended to have historical liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from the 1893 election to 1905 election with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of eight dissident liberals in 1905 when Labor won the most seats for the first time. The rise of Labor saw non-Labor politics start to merge into various party incarnations. The two independent conservative parties, the Australasian National League (formerly National Defence League) and the Farmers and Producers Political Union merged with the Liberal and Democratic Union to become the Liberal Union in 1910. Labor formed South Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 state election, triggering the merger. The 1910 election came two weeks after federal Labor formed Australia's first elected majority government at the 1910 federal election.

In an historical record, Steven Marshall was the fifth consecutive Liberal opposition leader during their 2002 to 2018 opposition period. In comparison, every former Labor opposition leader for over half a century would also proceed to serve as Premier.

## List of leaders of the opposition in South Australia

[edit]

The following is a list of leaders of the opposition in South Australia, from 1884 to present. According to the official parliament record, prior to the year 1884 "no definite evidence of the official holder of the office could be found".

No  | Leader  | Party  | Took Office  | Left Office

|
|
|
|

| 1 | John Colton |  | 1884  | 1884
| 2 | John Cox Bray |  | 1884  | 1884
| 3 | John Downer |  | 1885  | 1885
| 4 | Jenkin Coles |  | 1886  | 1886
| 5 | Thomas Playford II |  | 1887  | 1887
| - | John Downer (2nd time) |  | 1887  | 1889
| 6 | John Cockburn |  | 1889  | 27 June 1889
| - | Thomas Playford II (2nd time) |  | 1889  | 9 April 1890
| 7 | Frederick Holder | liberalism | 1890  | 12 June 1892
| - | John Downer (3rd time) | conservatism | 1892[1] | 1895
| 8 | William Copley | conservatism | May 1896[2] | May 1897
| - | John Downer (4th time) | conservatism | May 1897[3] | 27 June 1899[4]
| 9 | Vaiben Louis Solomon | conservatism | 27 June 1989  | 1 December 1899
| - | Frederick Holder (2nd time) | liberalism | 1 December 1899  | 8 December 1899
| - | Vaiben Louis Solomon (2nd time) | conservatism | 8 December 1899  | May 1901[5]
| 10 | Robert Homburg | conservatism | May 1901  | 3 May 1902
| 11 | John Darling Jr. | conservatism | 3 May 1902  | 15 July 1904
| 12 | Thomas Price | United Labor | 15 July 1904  | 26 July 1905
| 13 | Richard Butler | conservatism | 26 July 1905  | 5 June 1909
| 14 | John Verran | United Labor | 5 June 1909  | 3 June 1910
| 15 | Archibald Peake | Liberal Union | 3 June 1910  | 17 February 1912
| - | John Verran (2nd time) | United Labor | 17 February 1912  | 26 July 1913
| 16 | Crawford Vaughan | United Labor | 26 July 1913  | 3 April 1915
| - | Archibald Peake (2nd time) | Liberal Union | 3 April 1915  | 14 July 1917
| - | Crawford Vaughan (2nd time) | National Labor | 14 July 1917  | 1917
| 17 | Andrew Kirkpatrick | Labor (SA) | 1917  | 15 February 1918[6]
| 18 | John Gunn | Labor | 18 April 1918[7] | 16 April 1924
| 19 | Henry Barwell | Liberal Union | 16 April 1924  | 17 December 1925
| 20 | Richard L. Butler | Liberal Federation | 17 December 1925  | 8 April 1927
| 21 | Lionel Hill | Labor | 8 April 1927  | 17 April 1930
| - | Richard L. Butler (2nd time) | Liberal Federation/LCL | 17 April 1930  | 18 April 1933
| 22 | Andrew Lacey | Labor | 22 April 1933  | 1 April 1938
| 23 | Robert Richards | Labor | 1 April 1938  | 27 October 1949
| 24 | Mick O'Halloran | Labor | 27 October 1949  | 22 September 1960
| 25 | Frank Walsh | Labor | 5 October 1960  | 10 March 1965
| 26 | Sir Thomas Playford IV | LCL | 10 March 1965  | 13 July 1966
| 27 | Steele Hall | LCL | 13 July 1966  | 16 April 1968
| 28 | Don Dunstan | Labor | 16 April 1968  | 2 June 1970
| - | Steele Hall | LCL | 2 June 1970  | 15 March 1972
| 29 | Bruce Eastick | LCL/Liberal (SA) | 16 March 1972  | 24 July 1975
| 30 | David Tonkin | Liberal | 24 July 1975  | 18 September 1979
| 31 | Des Corcoran | Labor | 18 September 1979  | 2 October 1979
| 32 | John Bannon | Labor | 2 October 1979  | 10 November 1982
| 33 | John Olsen | Liberal | 10 November 1982  | 12 January 1990
| 34 | Dale Baker | Liberal | 12 January 1990  | 11 May 1992
| 35 | Dean Brown | Liberal | 11 May 1992  | 14 December 1993
| 36 | Lynn Arnold | Labor | 14 December 1993  | 20 September 1994
| 37 | Mike Rann | Labor | 20 September 1994  | 5 March 2002
| 38 | Rob Kerin | Liberal | 5 March 2002  | 30 March 2006
| 39 | Iain Evans | Liberal | 30 March 2006  | 12 April 2007
| 40 | Martin Hamilton-Smith | Liberal | 12 April 2007  | 8 July 2009
| 41 | Isobel Redmond | Liberal | 8 July 2009  | 31 January 2013
| 42 | Steven Marshall | Liberal | 4 February 2013  | 19 March 2018
| 43 | Peter Malinauskas | Labor | 9 April 2018  | 21 March 2022
| \-  | Steven Marshall  | Liberal  | 21 March 2022  | 19 April 2022
| 44 | David Speirs | Liberal | 19 April 2022  | 8 August 2024
| 45 | Vincent Tarzia | Liberal | 12 August 2024  |

## See also

[edit]

* Premier of South Australia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "THE PARLIAMENT". South Australian Register. 13 October 1892. p. 1.
2. ^ "THE WEEK". Chronicle. 30 May 1896. p. 9.
3. ^ "THE ELECTIONS". Southern Cross. 28 May 1897. p. 6.
4. ^ "PARLIAMENT BEGINS". Southern Cross. 30 June 1899. p. 9.
5. ^ The Evening Journal (4 May 1901). "OUR ILLUSTRATIONS". The Evening Journal.
6. ^ "MR. KIRKPATRICK RESIGNS". The Mail. 15 February 1918.
7. ^ "JOHN GUNN, DRIVER". The Mail. 18 May 1918.

* Statistical Record of the Legislature 1836 to 2007, p.118-119 – parliament.sa.gov.au

* v
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Current opposition leaders of Australian states and territories

| ACT| NSW| NT| Qld| SA| Tas| Vic| WA

|
|
|
|
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Leanne Castley (Lib)

Mark Speakman (Lib)

Selena Uibo (ALP)

Steven Miles (ALP)

Vincent Tarzia (Lib)

Dean Winter (ALP)

Brad Battin (Lib)

Shane Love (Nat)

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