Steele Hall

Raymond Steele Hall (born 30 November 1928) is a former Australian politician who served as the 36th Premier of South Australia from 1968 to 1970.

Hall was born on 30 November 1928 in Balaklava, South Australia, the son of Florence (née Fisher) and Sidney Hall.

He attended primary school in Owen and subsequently graduated from Balaklava High School.

After leaving school he worked on the family property in Owen, an 800 acre sheep and wheat farm.

Since 1932, the House of Assembly had 39 members—13 from the Adelaide area and 26 from country areas.

Hall was a state parliamentarian from 1959 to 1974, serving as Liberal and Country League (LCL) leader from 1966 to 1972 and premier from 1968 to 1970.

Hall was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as the Liberal and Country League (LCL) member for Gouger, based on Balaklava, at the 1959 election.

However, by the 1960s, even though Adelaide accounted for two-thirds of the state's population, a vote in Adelaide was effectively worth only half a country vote.

Hall was highly embarrassed that the LCL had been in a position to win government despite winning 43.8% of the first preference vote compared to Labor's 52%.

He was also concerned by the level of publicity and growing public protest about the issue.

This made him all the more committed to the principle of a fairer electoral system.

Hall sponsored an electoral reform bill which expanded the House of Assembly to 47 seats, including 28 in the Adelaide area.

It fell short of "one vote one value," as Dunstan and Labor had demanded, since rural areas were still overrepresented.

As mentioned above, Adelaide now contained two-thirds of the state's population.

Nevertheless, it was a much fairer system than its predecessor.

Hall undertook this knowing that it would considerably strengthen Labor's hand.

Even at the height of the LCL's popularity under Playford, Labor had dominated Adelaide, with the LCL only able to win a few seats in the "eastern crescent" and around Holdfast Bay.

With Adelaide now electing a majority of the legislature, conventional wisdom held that Hall pushed for electoral reform knowing that he was effectively handing the premiership to Dunstan at the next election.

Whatever the public outcry over the electoral inequalities, Hall's political bravery in introducing legislation to reform the House of Assembly to a more equitable system of representation should not be underestimated.

It ranks as one of the few instances in Australian political history when a politician initiated a reform knowing full well that it would put his own party at a disadvantage.

In addition to electoral reform, Hall also introduced improvements in social welfare, aboriginal affairs and abortion regulation.

Quickly gaining a reputation for his independence and strength of his views, Hall rose through the LCL parliamentary ranks to assume party leadership following Sir Thomas Playford's retirement in July 1966.

Playford, who had earlier served as premier for 26 years, endorsed Hall as his successor.

Although Hall was considerably more progressive than Playford, the two men shared a background as small farmers, rather than members of the rural elite or the Adelaide establishment.

Playford realised that the LCL needed a new image and new leader to broaden its appeal.

Hall served as Leader of the Opposition for two years before leading the LCL into the 1968 election.

Considered young and handsome, he was also the first Australian state premier to sport sideburns.

Indeed, the 1968 election, fought between Hall and his Labor opponent Don Dunstan, was described by the Democratic Labor Party as the battle of "the matinee idols".

The election resulted in a hung parliament, with Labor and the LCL winning 19 seats each.

LCL-leaning independent Tom Stott announced his support for the LCL.

Dunstan and Labor were defeated in the legislature on 17 April, and Hall was sworn in as premier later that day.

Hall immediately set out to deal with the issue of electoral reform.

Deliberately inequitable electoral boundaries, called the Playmander, had greatly advantaged the LCL over the past 40 years.

He introduced electoral reform, removing the Playmander which favoured the LCL, which contributed to his party's loss at the 1970 South Australian state election.

In 1972 he founded the Liberal Movement (LM), and resigned from the LCL when the LM split from the LCL in 1973.

He also served in the federal Parliament as a senator for South Australia from 1974 to 1977 and federal member for the Division of Boothby from 1981 to 1996.

He continued as a state parliamentarian until he resigned his seat in 1974 to be the LM's lead senate candidate at the 1974 Australian federal election.

Hall won a senate seat for the LM at both the 1974 and 1975 elections.

After the LM disbanded in 1976 he rejoined the Liberal Party, as it was now called in South Australia, and he resigned from the senate in 1977 to contest the seat of Hawker at the 1977 Federal election, but was unsuccessful.

In 1981 he won the seat of Boothby at the 1981 by-election, and remained the Liberal member for Boothby until his retirement in 1996.