Premier of South Australia

Premier of South Australia
South Australian Coat of Arms
Flag of South Australia
Incumbent Peter Malinauskas since 21 March 2022
Style	The Honourable (Formal) Premier (Spoken)
Member of	Cabinet Parliament Executive Council
Reports to	Parliament of South Australia Governor of South Australia
Seat	Adelaide, South Australia
Appointer	Governor of South Australia
Term length	At the Governor's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Boyle Finniss
Formation	24 October 1856
Salary	$374,648 (AUD)[1]
Website	http://premier.sa.gov.au/

The premier of South Australia is the head of the South Australian government. They are the leaders of the political party which has a majority of the seats in the Legislative Assembly. Before the 1890s when there was no formal party system in South Australia, politicians usually held liberal or conservative beliefs. The liberals dominated government from 1893 to 1905 with Labor support, with the conservatives mostly in opposition. Labor took government with the support of eight liberals in 1905 when Labor gained more seats than the liberals. The rise of Labor meant the other groups began to become anti-labor parties. The conservatives merged with the Liberal and Democratic Union (formed in 1906) to become the Liberal Union in 1910. No "country" or rural conservative parties have lasted in South Australian state politics.

Labor formed South Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 state election. This was two weeks after federal Labor formed Australia's first majority government after winning the 1910 federal election.

List of Premiers of South Australia

The first six Governors of South Australia ran the government from 1836 until responsible government was began in 1856.

No.	Name	Party	Assumed office	Left office	Period	Picture
1	B.T. Finniss		24 October 1856	21 August 1857	301 days
2	John Baker		21 August 1857	1 September 1857	11 days
3	Robert Torrens		1 September 1857	30 September 1857	29 days
4	Richard Hanson		30 September 1857	9 May 1860	2 years, 222 days
5	Thomas Reynolds		9 May 1860	8 October 1861	1 year, 152 days
6	George Waterhouse		8 October 1861	4 July 1863	1 year, 269 days
7	Francis Dutton		4 July 1863	15 July 1863	11 days
8	Henry Ayers		15 July 1863	4 August 1864	1 year, 20 days
9	Arthur Blyth		4 August 1864	22 March 1865	230 days
-	Francis Dutton (2nd time)		22 March 1865	20 September 1865	182 days Total - 193 days
-	Henry Ayers (2nd time)		20 September 1865	23 October 1865	33 days Total - 1 year, 53 days
10	John Hart		23 October 1865	28 March 1866	156 days
11	James Boucaut		28 March 1866	3 May 1867	1 year, 36 days
-	Henry Ayers (3rd time)		3 May 1867	24 September 1868	1 year, 144 days Total - 2 years, 197 days
-	John Hart (2nd time)		24 September 1868	13 October 1868	19 days Total - 175 days
-	Henry Ayers (4th time)		13 October 1868	3 November 1868	21 days Total - 2 years, 218 days
12	Henry Strangways		3 November 1868	30 May 1870	1 year, 208 days
-	John Hart (3rd time)		30 May 1870	10 November 1871	1 year, 164 days Total - 1 year, 339 days
-	Arthur Blyth (2nd time)		10 November 1871	22 January 1872	73 days Total - 303 days
-	Henry Ayers (5th time)		22 January 1872	22 July 1873	1 year, 181 days Total - 4 years, 34 days
-	Arthur Blyth (3rd time)		22 July 1873	3 June 1875	1 year, 316 days Total - 2 years, 254 days
-	James Boucaut (2nd time)		3 June 1875	6 June 1876	1 year, 3 days Total - 2 years, 39 days
13	John Colton		6 June 1876	26 October 1877	1 year, 142 days
-	James Boucaut (3rd time)		26 October 1877	27 September 1878	336 days Total - 3 years, 10 days
14	William Morgan		27 September 1878	24 June 1881	2 years, 270 days
15	John Cox Bray		24 June 1881	16 June 1884	2 years, 358 days
-	John Colton (2nd time)		16 June 1884	16 June 1885	1 year, 0 days Total - 2 years, 142 days
16	John Downer		16 June 1885	11 June 1887	1 year, 360 days
17	Thomas Playford II		11 June 1887	27 June 1889	2 years, 16 days
18	John Cockburn		27 June 1889	19 August 1890	1 year, 53 days
-	Thomas Playford II (2nd time)		19 August 1890	21 June 1892	1 year, 307 days Total - 3 years, 323 days
19	Frederick Holder		21 June 1892	15 October 1892	116 days
-	John Downer (2nd time)	conservatism[2]	15 October 1892	16 June 1893	244 days Total - 2 year, 239 days
20	Charles Kingston	liberalism	16 June 1893	1 December 1899	6 years, 168 days
21	Vaiben Solomon	conservatism	1 December 1899	8 December 1899	7 days
-	Frederick Holder (2nd time)	liberalism	8 December 1899	15 May 1901	1 year, 158 days Total - 1 year, 274 days
22	John Jenkins	liberalism	15 May 1901	1 March 1905	3 years, 290 days
23	Richard Butler	conservatism	1 March 1905	26 July 1905	147 days
24	Thomas Price	Australian Labor Party (Labor)	26 July 1905	5 June 1909	3 years, 314 days
25	Archibald Peake	Liberal and Democratic Union	5 June 1909	3 June 1910	363 days
26	John Verran	Labor	3 June 1910	17 February 1912	1 year, 259 days
-	Archibald Peake (2nd time)	Liberal Union	17 February 1912	3 April 1915	3 years, 45 days Total - 4 years, 43 days
27	Crawford Vaughan	Labor	3 April 1915	14 July 1917	2 years, 102 days
-	Archibald Peake (3rd time)	Liberal Union	14 July 1917	8 April 1920	2 years, 269 days Total - 6 years, 312 days
28	Henry Barwell	Liberal Union/ Liberal Federation	8 April 1920	16 April 1924	4 years, 8 days
29	John Gunn	Labor	16 April 1924	28 August 1926	2 years, 134 days
30	Lionel Hill	Labor	28 August 1926	8 April 1927	223 days
31	Richard Layton Butler	Liberal Federation	8 April 1927	17 April 1930	3 years, 9 days
-	Lionel Hill (2nd time)	Labor	17 April 1930	13 February 1933	2 years, 302 days Total - 3 years, 160 days
32	Robert Richards	Labor	13 February 1933	18 April 1933	64 days
-	Richard Layton Butler (2nd time)	Liberal and Country League (LCL)	18 April 1933	5 November 1938	5 years, 201 days Total - 8 years, 210 days
33	Thomas Playford IV	LCL	5 November 1938	10 March 1965	26 years, 125 days
34	Frank Walsh	Labor	10 March 1965	1 June 1967	2 years, 83 days
35	Don Dunstan	Labor	1 June 1967	17 April 1968	321 days
36	Steele Hall	LCL	17 April 1968	2 June 1970	2 years, 46 days
-	Don Dunstan (2nd time)	Labor	2 June 1970	15 February 1979	8 years, 258 days Total - 9 years, 214 days
37	Des Corcoran	Labor	15 February 1979	18 September 1979	215 days
38	David Tonkin	Liberal Party of Australia (Liberal)	18 September 1979	10 November 1982	3 years, 53 days
39	John Bannon	Labor	10 November 1982	4 September 1992	9 years, 299 days
40	Lynn Arnold	Labor	4 September 1992	14 December 1993	1 year, 101 days
41	Dean Brown	Liberal	14 December 1993	28 November 1996	2 years, 350 days
42	John Olsen	Liberal	28 November 1996	22 October 2001	4 years, 328 days
43	Rob Kerin	Liberal	22 October 2001	5 March 2002	134 days
44	Mike Rann	Labor	5 March 2002	21 October 2011	9 years, 230 days
45	Jay Weatherill	Labor	21 October 2011	19 March 2018	6 years, 149 days
46	Steven Marshall	Liberal	19 March 2018	21 March 2022	6 years, 271 days[3]
47	Peter Malinauskas	Labor	21 March 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 269 days[4]

References

1. "'Extraordinary' $30,000 MP pay rise under fire from South Australian welfare groups". ABC News. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
2. 1893 SA election Archived 2015-01-18 at the Wayback Machine - Playford replaced Cockburn as premier of a ministerialist minority government on 19 August 1890, and Holder replaced Playford as premier of a ministerialist minority government on 21 June 1892. The Downer Conservative minority government replaced the Holder ministerialist minority government on 15 October 1892. The Kingston Liberal minority government formed following the 1893 election, but non not take office until 16 June 1893 after the Assembly met for the first time.
3. As at 15 December 2024
4. As at 15 December 2024