The only Australian to serve as a state premier and in both houses of federal parliament, Steele Hall, has died aged 95.
Mr Hall served as South Australia's 36th premier for one term from 1968 to 1970 before spending three years in the Senate from 1974 to 1977 and then 15 years as the federal member for Boothby from 1981 to 1996.
He is best remembered for ending the so-called "Playmander" in SA politics, under which inequities in the electoral system favoured rural areas over those in Adelaide.
That system had heavily advantaged his own party, the Liberal and Country League and longstanding premier Sir Thomas Playford for the previous three decades.
"In one of the bravest political moves in the state's history, Hall introduced legislation to reform the House of Assembly to provide a more equitable system of representation," Premier Peter Malinauskas said in a statement on Monday.
"He did so knowing it would be detrimental to himself and his own party."
Years later, Mr Hall told The Advertiser the previous system, where some Labor seats had 40,000 voters and some Liberal seats 5000, was "totally undemocratic, totally wrong".
"We could not continue with the boundaries the way they were," he said.
"The changes we made in the electoral boundaries were immense and we knew that we were sacrificing government at the following election, but it had to be done."
Deputy Opposition Leader John Gardner said Mr Hall was a giant of South Australian politics and a leader of great courage and deep principle.
"While electoral reform may be the enduring legacy for which Steele Hall is most widely remembered, his term in office saw significant progress in other areas including women's health, Aboriginal affairs, and the fluoridation of South Australia's water supply," Mr Gardner said.
Born in Balaklava, north of Adelaide, in 1928, Mr Hall worked on the family wheat and sheep farm.
He later secured LCL preselection for the seat of Gouger, which covered Balaklava and surrounds, and was elected to state parliament in 1959.
He was a member of the Playford government and ultimately succeeded Sir Thomas as leader of the LCL in 1966.
In just two years, he returned the Liberals to government in 1968.
Mr Hall is survived by his wife Joan, six children and six grandchildren.
