Editing Premier of South Australia (section)

==History==

The office of premier of South Australia was established upon the commencement of [[responsible government]] with the passage of the ''Constitution Act 1856''. The role was based upon that of the [[prime minister of the United Kingdom]], with the premier requiring the support of a majority of the members of the lower house to remain head of government. For the early years of responsible government, the office was held in conjunction with that of [[Chief Secretary of South Australia]], a role that had existed since colonsiation, but by the 1890's, this was no longer a convention.

No parties or solid groupings would be formed until after the [[1890 South Australian colonial election|1890 election]], which resulted in frequent changes of the premier of South Australia. If for any reason the incumbent premier lost sufficient support through a successful [[motion of no confidence]] at any time on the [[floor of the house]], he would tender his resignation to the [[governor of South Australia]], which would result in another member deemed to have the support of the House of Assembly being sworn in by the governor as the next premier.

Informal groupings began and increased government stability occurred from the [[1887 South Australian colonial election|1887 election]]. The [[Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)|United Labor Party]] would be formed in 1891, while the [[National Defence League (Australia)|National Defence League]] would be formed later in the same year.

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 South Australian colonial election|1893 election]] to [[1905 South Australian state election|1905 election]] with the support of the [[Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch)|South Australian United Labor Party]], 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 politician|independent]] conservative parties, the [[National Defence League (Australia)|Australasian National League]] (formerly the National Defence League) and the [[Farmers and Producers Political Union]] merged with the [[Liberal and Democratic Union]] to become the [[Liberal Union (Australia)|Liberal Union]] in 1910. Labor formed South Australia's first [[majority government]] after winning the [[1910 South Australian state election|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 Australian federal election|1910 federal election]].

No "Country" or rural conservative parties emerged as serious long-term forces in [[South Australian]] state politics, the majority folding into the main non-Labor party.