1992 Victorian state election

The 1992 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 3 October 1992, was for the 52nd 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.

1992 Victorian state election

3 October 1992 (1992-10-03)

All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
  First party Second party
 
Leader Jeff Kennett Joan Kirner
Party Liberal/National coalition Labor
Leader since 23 April 1991 10 August 1990
Leader's seat Burwood Williamstown
Last election 42 seats 46 seats
Seats won 61 seats 27 seats
Seat change 19 19
Percentage 56.30% 43.70%
Swing 5.78 5.78

Premier before election

Joan Kirner
Labor

Elected Premier

Jeff Kennett
Liberal/National coalition

The Labor government of Premier Joan Kirner, who had replaced John Cain on 10 August 1990, was defeated by the LiberalNational Coalition led by Jeff Kennett and Pat McNamara, who had campaigned on comprehensive economic and structural reform as well as changes to industrial relations.

Background

At the 1988 state election, the Labor government had won a third term, gaining 46 of the 88 Legislative Assembly seats, but was sent reeling by a budget crisis. Despite this, polling indicated that the Liberal Opposition had been unable to gain any ground under Alan Brown, who had succeeded Jeff Kennett on 23 May 1989. Brown was, however, able to persuade the Nationals to agree to contest the next election as a Coalition, the first time the two main non-Labor parties in Victoria had fought an election together since 1950. The Liberals had actually won a majority of the two-party vote in 1988, but came up five seats short of achieving government. It was believed that they had lost seats due to a number of three-cornered contests in rural areas.

Cain soon realised that Labor would be heavily defeated if he took the party into the next election. He resigned in 1990, and was succeeded by Deputy Premier and Education Minister Joan Kirner. While Kirner was able to win some respect, she was unable to change Labor's fortunes. Prospects for a fourth Labor term became even more remote when Kennett's supporters launched a party room coup that returned him to the leadership on 23 April 1991.

Kirner waited as long as she could before calling the election. While she remained more personally popular than Kennett, commentators had almost universally written off Labor by this time. The Coalition had been well ahead in opinion polling for over two years, and it was obvious almost as soon as the writs were dropped that Kennett would be Victoria's next premier.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Victorian state election, 3 October 1992[1][2]
Legislative Assembly
<< 19881996 >>

Enrolled voters 2,855,471
Votes cast 2,716,298 Turnout 95.13 +2.78
Informal votes 103,401 Informal 3.81 –0.08
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Liberal 1,153,770 44.16 +3.59 52 +19
  Labor 1,003,495 38.41 –8.14 27 –19
  National 204,525 7.83 +0.06 9 ± 0
  Natural Law 34,616 1.32 +1.32 0 ± 0
  Geelong Community Alliance 12,247 0.47 +0.47 0 ± 0
  Democrats 5,080 0.19 –0.86 0 ± 0
  Pensioner and CIR 3,844 0.15 +0.15 0 ± 0
  Greens 1,863 0.07 +0.07 0 ± 0
  Call to Australia 1,143 0.04 –1.01 0 ± 0
  Independent 192,314 7.36 +4.58 0 ± 0
Total 2,612,897     88  
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal/National 1,467,990 56.30 +5.78
  Labor 1,139,635 43.70 –5.78

Legislative Council

Victorian state election, 3 October 1992[3]
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 2,855,471
Votes cast 2,718,936 Turnout 95.22 +2.89
Informal votes 111,627 Informal 4.11 –0.22
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats
won
Seats
held
  Liberal 1,133,951 43.49 –0.01 14 24
  Labor 1,005,454 38.56 –9.57 5 14
  National 227,850 8.74 +1.26 3 6
  Democratic Labor 118,244 4.54 +4.54 0 0
  Natural Law 16,216 0.62 +0.62 0 0
  Geelong Community Alliance 14,586 0.56 +0.56 0 0
  Democrats 8,197 0.31 +0.31 0 0
  Call to Australia 2,168 0.08 –0.14 0 0
  Independent 80,643 3.09 +2.42 0 0
Total 2,419,991     22 44
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal/National 1,475,004 56.65 +6.10
  Labor 1,128,503 43.35 –6.10

The Labor government was defeated by the Coalition, with the latter winning 61 seats of 88 contested in the Assembly on an 8% swing against the Government, and 17 of 22 in the Council with a swing of over 9%. It was the second-largest defeat that a sitting government has ever suffered in Victoria. This did, however, represent a considerable improvement in the Government's stocks from the 22-25% indicated in opinion polls in 1990 and 1991. The Liberals made gains primarily in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne as well as provincial Victoria. Eight members of Kirner's cabinet were defeated.

The Liberals actually won 52 seats, enough for a majority in their own right. Although Kennett thus had no need for National support, the Coalition was retained.

Maps

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre−1992 Swing Post−1992
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Ballarat East   Labor Frank Sheehan −0.6* −1.1 1.6 Barry Traynor Liberal  
Bayswater   Labor Kay Setches 3.0 −10.1 7.1 Gordon Ashley Liberal  
Bellarine   Labor Graham Ernst −1.1 −6.8 7.9 Garry Spry Liberal  
Bendigo West   Labor David Kennedy 1.6 −2.7 1.1 Max Turner Liberal  
Bentleigh   Labor Ann Barker 1.5 −9.7 8.2 Inga Peulich Liberal  
Box Hill   Labor Margaret Ray −7.0 −6.2 13.2 Robert Clark Liberal  
Cranbourne   Labor notional – new seat 1.4 −6.1 4.7 Gary Rowe Liberal  
Eltham   Labor notional – new seat 4.6 −14.6 10.0 Wayne Phillips Liberal  
Essendon   Labor Barry Rowe 5.5 −6.7 1.2 Ian Davis Liberal  
Frankston East   Labor Jane Hill 6.5 −6.7 0.2 Peter McLellan Liberal  
Geelong   Labor Hayden Shell 2.6 −3.3 0.7 Ann Henderson Liberal  
Knox   Labor Carolyn Hirsh 5.0 −11.1 6.1 Hurtle Lupton Liberal  
Mitcham   Labor John Harrowfield 2.3 −10.8 8.5 Roger Pescott Liberal  
Monbulk   Labor Neil Pope 4.3 −9.6 5.3 Steve McArthur Liberal  
Mooroolbark   Labor notional – new seat 1.9 −12.0 10.1 Lorraine Elliott Liberal  
Mordialloc   Labor Peter Spyker 2.2 −9.5 7.3 Geoff Leigh Liberal  
Oakleigh   Labor Race Mathews 5.7 −8.6 2.9 Denise McGill Liberal  
Tullamarine   Labor Peter Gavin 4.9 −6.4 1.5 Bernie Finn Liberal  
Wantirna   Labor Peter Lockwood 0.1 −14.2 14.1 Kim Wells Liberal  
  • Ballarat East was the new name for the abolished district of Ballarat South, of which Labor MP Frank Sheehan was the sitting member. It was a notional Liberal seat.
  • Bellarine and Box Hill became notional Liberal seats in the redistribution.

Background

Both the government and opposition had gone through changes during the 1988–1992 term of Parliament. The Labor government, in power since the 1982 election, was dogged in its final term by a series of scandals and major corporate collapses which, like neighbouring South Australia, extended and deepened the early 1990s recession in those states. Unemployment reached 11.6% in Victoria in March 1992, with the manufacturing and textiles sector being particularly affected, while state debt was estimated at A$30 billion.[4] The State Bank of Victoria, the Victorian Economic Development Corporation (VEDC), Tricontinental and Pyramid Building Society failed, whilst the government-backed WorkCare insurance scheme was not in good shape. The Liberal party commenced an advertising campaign in January 1992 with the slogan "Labor: the Guilty Party".[4]

The 1990 federal election was the first major sign that all was not well for VIctorian Labor, with the Coalition gaining nine seats at Labor's expense. Ultimately, John Cain resigned on 7 August 1990, and on 10 August, Joan Kirner was elected leader. Despite her own personal popularity, support for the government had fallen to 22% by December, with analysts citing concerns over the state debt, lack of confidence in Victorian financial institutions, industrial relations problems and the severity of the recession's effects in the state as the primary reasons for the low ratings.[5][6]

Meanwhile, on 23 May 1989, Jeff Kennett was dumped as leader of the Liberal Party by his colleagues in favour of Alan Brown; Brown led the party until 23 April 1991 when he was himself dumped in a party room spill. During Brown's period as Opposition Leader, the Liberals negotiated the first coalition agreement with the Nationals in over forty years, in part due to a belief by some (in spite of what political scientist Brian Costar called a "lack of psephological evidence to support this assertion") that had the parties been in coalition at the election, they would have won.[7]

Key dates

Date Event
14 August 1992 The Legislative Council was prorogued and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[8]
21 August 1992 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[8]
28 August 1992 The electoral rolls were closed.
4 September 1992 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
3 October 1992 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
6 October 1992 The Kirner Ministry resigned and the Kennett Ministry was constituted.[9]
19 October 1992 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
27 October 1992 Parliament resumed for business.[10]

See also

References

  1. Hughes, Colin A. (2002). A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1985-1999. Sydney: Federation Press. p. 316.
  2. Antony Green (September 1995). "1992 Victorian State Election - Summary of Results" (PDF). Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  3. Hughes (2002) p.317.
  4. Shamshullah, Ardel (December 1992). "Australian Political Chronicle: January–June 1992: Victoria". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 38 (3): 426–427. ISSN 0004-9522.
  5. Shamshullah, Ardel (June 1991). "Australian Political Chronicle: July–December 1990: Victoria". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 37 (2): 308–312. ISSN 0004-9522.
  6. Costar B.J & Economou N., 'Elections and Electoral Change 1982-92' in Considine M. & Costar B.J (eds) Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and Victoria 1982-1992, Melbourne University Press, 1992 p. 261
  7. B. J. Costar, 'Coalition Government: An Unequal Partnership' in B. J. Costar & N. Economou (eds) The Kennett Revolution: Victorian Politics in the 1990s, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1998, p. 89
  8. "Proroguing the Legislative Council and dissolving the Legislative Assembly: Proclamation". Victorian Government Gazette. 14 August 1992. p. 1992:S45 (Special).
  9. "Ministers of the Crown". Victorian Government Gazette. 9 October 1992. p. 1992:S53 (Special).
  10. "Fixing the time for holding the first session of the Fifty-second Parliament of Victoria". Victorian Government Gazette. 21 October 1992. p. 1992:3107.
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