Everything about John Bannon totally explained
John Charles Bannon AO (born
1943) was the
Labor Premier of South Australia between
November 10,
1982 and
September 4,
1992. Bannon was born in
Bendigo,
Victoria and completed degrees in Arts and Law at the
University of Adelaide. While at university, he was co-editor of the student newspaper
On Dit along with Ken Scott and Jacqui Dibden in 1964. In 1968, he was elected president of the
Australian Union of Students. Following the completion of his studies, he was an advisor to various governments, including
Gough Whitlam's ministry.
He was elected to the
South Australian House of Assembly in
1977 and promoted to cabinet within a year. Following the resignation of Premier
Don Dunstan and Labor's loss in the
1979 election, Bannon was elected to the Labor leadership. Despite factional struggles within the party, Bannon managed to return Labor to government in the
1982 election with a 5.9% swing, stressing the continuation of prudent budgetary measures that had begun under
David Tonkin and emphasising the economic development of the state.
Bannon's consensual approach to government differed markedly from the Dunstan era. While then there had been a stream of social reform, Bannon's priorities were oriented elsewhere. He sold land reserved for freeways under the
MATS plan, continued with the development of the
Olympic Dam uranium mine, constructed South Australia's first casino and brought the
Grand Prix to
Adelaide.
The economic situation, moribund in the early 80s, rebounded, and Bannon's government was easily re-elected in
1985, achieving a mild 2% swing towards them from the Liberal opposition.
However, Bannon was stung in the
1989 election, gaining only 48.1% of the two-party-preferred vote and relying on the support of independents to govern. Shortly thereafter, electoral legislation was passed that attempted to ensure that a party that won 50% of the two-party-preferred vote would gain office.
Following relevations of budgetary irregularities in 1990, it was discovered that the government's
State Bank had accumulated a $7 billion debt and the treasury had been underwriting deposits. Bannon's government was then forced to borrow $3.5 billion in order to protect the savings of South Australians in the midst of the bank's collapse. Bannon stepped down from the offices of Premier and Treasurer and announced that he wouldn't contest his seat of
Ross Smith in the coming election.
Lynn Arnold replaced Bannon, but Labor suffered a 9.1% swing against them in
1993 and were left with only 10 seats in a house of 47.
After retiring from politics, the ABC offered a directorial position to Bannon in 1994 and he accepted. With an interest in South Australian history, he researches at
Flinders University. He was Master of
St Mark's College from 2000 to 2007. On Australia Day 2007, he was awarded the
Order of Australia.
Bannon is the stepfather of Australian television personality
Dylan Lewis.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Bannon'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_bannon.totallyexplained.com">John Bannon Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
