Leader of the Opposition (South Australia)

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, he or she is generally a member of the House of Assembly. He or she acts as the public face of the opposition, and act 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.

Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent Peter Malinauskas since 9 April 2018
Term length	While leader of the largest political party not in government
Inaugural holder	John Colton
Formation	1884
Deputy	Susan Close

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

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	Period in office
1	John Colton		1884
2	John Cox Bray		1884
3	John Downer		1885
4	Jenkin Coles		1886
5	Thomas Playford II		1887
-	John Downer (2nd time)		1887–1889
6	John Cockburn		1889
-	Thomas Playford II (2nd time)		1889–1890
7	Frederick Holder	liberalism	1890–1892
-	John Downer (3rd time)	conservatism	1893–1895
8	William Copley	conservatism	1896
-	John Downer (4th time)	conservatism	1897–1899
9	Vaiben Louis Solomon	conservatism	1899
-	Frederick Holder (2nd time)	liberalism	1899
-	Vaiben Louis Solomon (2nd time)	conservatism	1899–1901
10	Robert Homburg	conservatism	1901–1902
11	John Darling Jr.	conservatism	1902–1904
12	Thomas Price	United Labor	1904–1905
13	Richard Butler	conservatism	1905–1909
14	John Verran	United Labor	1909–1910
15	Archibald Peake	Liberal Union	1910–1912
-	John Verran (2nd time)	United Labor	1912–1913
16	Crawford Vaughan	United Labor	1913–1915
-	Archibald Peake (2nd time)	Liberal Union	1915–1917
-	Crawford Vaughan (2nd time)	National Labor	1917
17	Andrew Kirkpatrick	Labor (SA)	1917–1918
18	John Gunn	Labor	1918–1924
19	Henry Barwell	Liberal Union	1924–1925
20	Richard L. Butler	Liberal Federation	1925–1927
21	Lionel Hill	Labor	1927–1930
-	Richard L. Butler (2nd time)	Liberal Federation/LCL	1930–1933
22	Andrew Lacey	Labor	1933–1938
23	Robert Richards	Labor	1938–1949
24	Mick O'Halloran	Labor	1949–1960
25	Frank Walsh	Labor	1960–1965
26	Thomas Playford IV	LCL	1965–1966
27	Steele Hall	LCL	1966–1968
28	Don Dunstan	Labor	1968–1970
-	Steele Hall (2nd time)	LCL	1970–1972
29	Bruce Eastick	LCL/Liberal (SA)	1972–1975
30	David Tonkin	Liberal	1975–1979
31	Des Corcoran	Labor	1979
32	John Bannon	Labor	1979–1982
33	John Olsen	Liberal	1982–1990
34	Dale Baker	Liberal	1990–1992
35	Dean Brown	Liberal	1992–1993
36	Lynn Arnold	Labor	1993–1994
37	Mike Rann	Labor	1994–2002
38	Rob Kerin	Liberal	2002–2006
39	Iain Evans	Liberal	2006–2007
40	Martin Hamilton-Smith	Liberal	2007–2009
41	Isobel Redmond	Liberal	2009–2013
42	Steven Marshall	Liberal	2013–2018
43	Peter Malinauskas	Labor	2018–present

See also

• Premier of South Australia

References

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