# 1973 South Australian state election

State elections were held in South Australia on 10 March 1973. 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 Don Dunstan won a second term in government, defeating the Liberal and Country League led by Leader of the Opposition Bruce Eastick.

## Background

Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of South Australia were held in South Australia in 1973, which saw Don Dunstan and the Australian Labor Party win a second successive term, against the Liberal and Country League (LCL) led by Bruce Eastick.
It was only the second time that a Labor government in South Australia had been re-elected for a second term, the first being the early Thomas Price Labor government. It would be the first five-year-incumbent Labor government however.
Moderate Liberal Movement forces within the LCL broke away to form its own party led by Steele Hall after the election in 1973. The LCL became the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia a year after the election.
The Country Party also won a seat for the first time in Flinders, and finished second after preferences with no Labor candidate in five LCL seats − Rocky River, Mallee, Alexandra, Goyder and Victoria.
A 1973 Semaphore by-election and a 1974 Goyder by-election were triggered. Labor and the Liberal Movement easily retained their respective seats.
The Democratic Labor Party, which won 0.71% of the vote and no seats in 1970, chose not to contest the election.

## Key dates

* Issue of writ: 20 February 1973
* Close of nominations: 27 February 1973
* Polling day: 10 March 1973
* Return of writ: On or before 10 April 1973

## Results
### House of Assembly

South Australian state election, 10 March 1973 House of Assembly
<< 1970–1975 >> :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 696,290 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 655,937 | | Turnout | 94.20% | -0.83% |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 26,794 | | Informal | 4.08% | +2.02% |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Labor | 324,135 | 51.52% | –0.12% | 26 | - 1 |
| | Liberal and Country | 250,312 | 39.79% | –3.97% | 20 | ± 0 |
| | Country | 24,810 | 3.94% | +2.05% | 1 | + 1 |
| | Independent | 27,178 | 4.32% | +2.86% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Other | 2,708 | 0.43% | * | 0 | ± 0 |
| Total | Total | 629,143 | | | 47 | |
| Two-party-preferred |||||||
| | Labor | | 54.50% | +1.20% | | |
| | Liberal and Country | | 45.50% | –1.20% | | |

### Legislative Council

South Australian state election, 10 March, 1973 Legislative Council
<< 1968–1975 >> :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 383,758 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 357,971 | | Turnout | 93.3 | –1.9 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 27,140 | | Informal | 7.6 | +1.7 |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held |
| | Labor | 174,082 | 52.6 | –5.3 | 4 | 6 |
| | Liberal and Country | 152,921 | 46.2 | +4.2 | 6 | 14 |
| | Australia | 2,618 | 0.8 | +0.8 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independent | 1,210 | 0.4 | +0.4 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 330,831 | | | 10 | 20 |