1985 Victorian state election

1985 Victorian state election
← 1982 2 March 1985 (1985-03-02) 1988 →
All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
45 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader John Cain Jr. Jeff Kennett Peter Ross-Edwards
Party Labor Liberal National
Leader since 9 September 1981 26 October 1982 17 June 1970
Leader's seat Bundoora Burwood Shepparton
Last election 49 seats 24 seats 8 seats
Seats won 47 seats 31 seats 10 seats
Seat change Decrease 2 Increase 7 Increase 2
Popular vote 1,198,262 1,003,003 174,727
Percentage 50.01% 41.86% 7.29%
Swing Steady 0.00 Increase 3.53 Increase 2.32
TPP 50.70% 49.30%
TPP swing Decrease 3.08 Increase 3.08
Results in each electorate.
Premier before election

John Cain Jr.
Labor

Elected Premier

John Cain Jr.
Labor

The 1985 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 2 March 1985, was for the 50th Parliament of Victoria. It was held in the Australian state of Victoria to elect all 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council. Since the previous election, the number of members of the Legislative Assembly was increased by 7 to 88.

Lindsay Thompson, who led the Liberal Party to a defeat at the 1982 election with a 17-seat swing against it, resigned the leadership of the party on 5 November 1982. He was succeeded by Jeff Kennett. At the election, the incumbent Labor Party government led by John Cain Jr. maintained its electoral support, though the Liberal Party did increase the number of seats. It was the first time since Federation that a Labor government had been reelected in Victoria. Although the Labor Party lost seats in the lower house it gained a majority in the upper house picking up 4 seats to hold 23 up from 19 at the last election meaning the Liberal/National Coalition no longer had sway on government policy.

Results

[edit]

Legislative Assembly

[edit]
See also: Results of the 1985 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly)

Victorian state election, 2 March 1985[1]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1982–1988 >>

Enrolled voters 2,641,477
Votes cast 2,462,226 Turnout 93.21 −0.76
Informal votes 66,107 Informal 2.68 +0.07
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 1,198,262 50.01 0.00 47 -2
  Liberal 1,003,003 41.86 +3.53 31 +7
  National 174,727 7.29 +2.32 10 +2
  Independent 12,828 0.54 -0.51 0 ±0
  Weekend Trading 3,909 0.16 +0.16 0 ±0
  Public Transport 3,390 0.14 +0.14 0 ±0
Total 2,396,119     88  
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 1,214,832 50.7 –3.1
  Liberal 1,181,287 49.3 +3.1

Legislative Council

[edit]
See also: Results of the 1985 Victorian state election (Legislative Council)

Victorian state election, 2 March 1985
Legislative Council
<< 1982–1988 >>

Enrolled voters 2,641,477
Votes cast 2,461,708 Turnout 93.19 –0.67
Informal votes 74,202 Informal 3.01 –0.12
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats
won 		Seats
held
  Labor 1,128,747 47.28 –2.28 11 23
  Liberal 982,418 41.15 +1.94 8 16
  National 159,299 6.67 +1.17 3 5
  Democrats 95,045 3.98 –1.05 0 0
  Call to Australia 16,849 0.71 +0.71 0 0
  Independent 5,148 0.22 +0.04 0 0
Total 2,387,506     22 44

Seats changing hands

[edit]
Seat Pre-1985 Swing Post-1985
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Bennettswood   Labor Doug Newton 1.2 -2.0 0.8 Roger Pescott Liberal  
Dromana   Labor David Hassett 1.4 -3.8 2.4 Ron Wells Liberal  
Evelyn   Labor Max McDonald 1.3 -4.1 2.8 Jim Plowman Liberal  
Ivanhoe   Labor Tony Sheehan 1.3 -2.7 1.6 Vin Heffernan Liberal  
Mornington   Labor notional - new seat 1.4 -3.4 2.0 Robin Cooper Liberal  
Syndal   Labor David Gray 0.1 -1.5 1.4 Geoff Coleman Liberal  
Warrnambool   Liberal Adam Kempton 11.3 -17.8 6.5 John McGrath National  
  • Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
  • In addition, the National party retained the seat of Swan Hill, which it had won from the Liberals in a by-election.

Redistribution affected seats

[edit]
Seat 1982 election 1984 redistribution Swing 1985 election
Party Member Margin Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Mentone   Liberal Bill Templeton 1.2   Labor Notional 3.7 -1.7 2.0 Peter Spyker Labor  
Narracan Liberal John Delzoppo 1.7 Labor Notional 1.4 1.8 0.4 John Delzoppo Liberal
Prahran Labor Bob Miller 3.7 Liberal Notional 1.7 5.1 6.8 Don Hayward Liberal
Sandringham Labor Graham Ihlein 1.5 Liberal Notional 2.6 2.3 4.9 David Lea Liberal

Post-election pendulum

[edit]
Labor seats (47)
Marginal
Bentleigh Gordon Hockley ALP 0.1%
Warrandyte Lou Hill ALP 0.2%
Ballarat South Frank Sheehan ALP 1.8%
Mentone Peter Spyker ALP 2.0%
Box Hill Margaret Ray ALP 2.1%
Ringwood Kay Setches ALP 2.7%
St Kilda Andrew McCutcheon ALP 2.7%
Bellarine Graham Ernst ALP 3.0%
Mitcham John Harrowfield ALP 3.7%
Monbulk Neil Pope ALP 3.7%
Whittlesea Max McDonald ALP 4.6%
Greensborough Pauline Toner ALP 5.1%
Wantirna Carolyn Hirsh ALP 5.3%
Bendigo West David Kennedy ALP 5.7%
Fairly safe
Geelong Hayden Shell ALP 6.1%
Oakleigh Race Mathews ALP 6.1%
Werribee Ken Coghill ALP 6.2%
Springvale Eddie Micallef ALP 7.0%
Morwell Valerie Callister ALP 7.4%
Frankston North Jane Hill ALP 9.0%
Dandenong North Jan Wilson ALP 9.1%
Carrum Ian Cathie ALP 9.4%
Clayton Gerard Vaughan ALP 9.8%
Safe
Dandenong Terry Norris ALP 11.1%
Knox Steve Crabb ALP 11.4%
Pascoe Vale Tom Edmunds ALP 11.4%
Keilor George Seitz ALP 11.5%
Essendon Barry Rowe ALP 12.1%
Albert Park Bunna Walsh ALP 12.2%
Bundoora John Cain ALP 12.3%
Niddrie Jack Simpson ALP 13.0%
Doveton Rob Jolly ALP 14.9%
Melbourne Keith Remington ALP 15.2%
Derrimut David Cunningham ALP 15.6%
Geelong North Neil Trezise ALP 15.8%
Reservoir Jim Simmonds ALP 18.7%
Williamstown Gordon Stirling ALP 18.8%
Preston Carl Kirkwood ALP 19.6%
Broadmeadows Jack Culpin ALP 20.0%
Coburg Peter Gavin ALP 20.4%
Brunswick Tom Roper ALP 20.6%
St Albans Alex Andrianopoulos ALP 21.0%
Sunshine Bill Fogarty ALP 21.1%
Richmond Theo Sidiropoulos ALP 21.4%
Northcote Frank Wilkes ALP 21.8%
Footscray Robert Fordham ALP 23.4%
Thomastown Beth Gleeson ALP 23.9%
Liberal/National seats (41)
Marginal
Narracan John Delzoppo LIB 0.4%
Bennettswood Roger Pescott LIB 0.8%
Syndal Geoff Coleman LIB 1.4%
Ivanhoe Vin Heffernan LIB 1.6%
Mornington Robin Cooper LIB 2.0%
Dromana Ron Wells LIB 2.4%
Evelyn Jim Plowman LIB 2.8%
Berwick Rob Maclellan LIB 3.1%
South Barwon Harley Dickinson LIB 3.4%
Frankston South Graeme Weideman LIB 3.6%
Bendigo East Michael John LIB 3.9%
Forest Hill John Richardson LIB 3.9%
Sandringham David Lea LIB 4.9%
Burwood Jeff Kennett LIB 5.6%
Doncaster Morris Williams LIB 5.6%
Hawthorn Phil Gude LIB 5.7%
Fairly safe
Ripon Tom Austin LIB 6.5%
Warrnambool John McGrath NAT 6.5% v LIB
Prahran Don Hayward LIB 6.8%
Ballarat North Tom Evans LIB 7.1%
Caulfield Ted Tanner LIB 7.3%
Gisborne Tom Reynolds LIB 7.5%
Bulleen David Perrin LIB 7.8%
Malvern Geoff Leigh LIB 9.8%
Safe
Glen Waverley Ross Smith LIB 10.1%
Kew Prue Sibree LIB 10.2%
Brighton Alan Stockdale LIB 12.1%
Gippsland West Alan Brown LIB 12.1%
Portland Digby Crozier LIB 13.3%
Balwyn Jim Ramsay LIB 15.4%
Benalla Pat McNamara NAT 16.1%
Gippsland East Bruce Evans NAT 17.5%
Polwarth Ian Smith LIB 18.3%
Benambra Lou Lieberman LIB 19.6%
Gippsland South Tom Wallace NAT 21.8%
Murray Valley Ken Jasper NAT 22.2%
Shepparton Peter Ross-Edwards NAT 22.8%
Mildura Milton Whiting NAT 23.0%
Swan Hill Barry Steggall NAT 27.6%
Rodney Eddie Hann NAT 30.1%
Lowan Bill McGrath NAT 30.2%

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Election held on 2 March 1985". Australian Politics and Elections Database. University of Western Australia.
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