John Cain (41st Premier of Victoria)

During the first term of his government, Cain's government carried out many reforms to Victorian government, particularly in the areas of education, environment, law reform and public administration. The Government brought in nude beaches, legalised brothels, extended Saturday shop trading hours, extended nightclub hours, extended hotel hours and allowed Sunday VFL football and more gambling opportunities.[2][4]

Cain was a Keynesian, opposed to the doctrines of economic rationalism, and he increased government spending in the hope of stimulating growth and investment. Following the lead of New South Wales premier Neville Wran, Cain demanded Government owned enterprises pay dividends to the treasury, these dividends were increased every year forcing these enterprises to borrow to pay the dividend. Other schemes such as the Victorian Economic Development Corporation, and the Victorian Equity Trust promised good returns. These schemes worked so long as the national economy remained buoyant.[2]

The Government of Victoria refused to approve the plans for the upgrade VFL Park in 1982/1983, because the upgrade would have threatened the Melbourne Cricket Ground's right to host the VFL Grand Final. Cain, who had played Australian football at Scotch College, said that such a major event must be played in the centre of Melbourne. He saw his first VFL Grand Final with his father in 1942, and watched every one after that. He also kept the Australian Open in Melbourne by building the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne Park.[2]

Cain forced exclusive male-only sporting clubs like the Melbourne Cricket Club and Victorian Racing Club (VRC) - private clubs on public lands - to accept women as full members.[2] The VRC had notorious lines painted on the ground that women were forbidden to cross. He told the VRC that the lines had to go if they were to ever again receive government funding.[5]

One of Cain's major achievements was the introduction of Victoria's Freedom of Information laws, making Victoria the first state to pass such laws.[6]

Historically, Labor had not been very successful in Victoria. However, Cain remained very popular with the Victorian electorate, and was easily elected to a second term in 1985 over the Liberals under Jeff Kennett, the first time a Labor government had been reelected in Victoria. Labor also won the Victorian Legislative Council seat of Nunawading after a tied vote forced the parties to draw from a hat to decide the winner, giving Labor control of the upper house for the first time ever. However, a fresh election was ordered by the Court of Disputed Returns after it was found that the Chief Electoral Officer should have cast deciding vote. The Liberals won the seat, and Labor lost its slim majority. Within a week the chairman of the Victorian Nuclear Disarmament Party lodged an official complaint about a deceptive NDP how to vote card handed out at the booths. It was claimed that Labor members were recognised handing out this card and that the allocation of preferences to the ALP on the card damaged the NDP.[7][8]

During its second term Cain's government began to run into difficulties with the state budget. The stock market crash of 1987 created a crisis which forced the government to cut spending, alienating some trade union supporters. The State Bank of Victoria, in particular its merchant banking arm Tricontinental, ran up a huge portfolio of bad loans, without adequate fiduciary supervision.[2]

Progress had created a vast amount of vacant inner-city land, with the introduction of containerisation in the shipping industry, the docks became inadequate for the new container ships. This made the docks within Victoria Dock obsolete as the principal docking area shifted closer to the mouth of the Yarra, and this was seen as a large urban blight by the Cain state government. The size of the Melbourne Docklands area meant that political influences were inescapable.[2]

The Docklands was high on the government's agenda,[9] however, the government at the time could not afford to initiate the investment for the project so the Docklands project stayed on the drawing board. There was a bid for the 1996 Olympic Games and another proposal was to turn the Docklands into a technology city known as the Multifunction Polis (MFP).[9]

The Cain government was narrowly re-elected to a third term in 1988. The Liberals actually won a majority of the two-party vote. However, much of the Liberal margin was wasted on large majorities in their heartland. In contrast, Labor only lost one seat in the capital, and won enough marginal urban seats to cling to power by only two seats. Immediately after the election a huge shortfall in the government's workers' compensation scheme, WorkCare, was revealed.[2]

The VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Corporation), established by the previous Liberal Government, and its sister, the Victorian Investment Corporation, were created to back new industries to replace outdated smokestack manufacturers. The VEDC collapsed under poor management and an absence of accountability after it had provided $450 million of loan and equity assistance to business.[10]

This was followed by a budgetary crisis. The deputy premier, Robert Fordham, took some of the blame and resigned. This led to the elevation of Education Minister Joan Kirner to deputy premier.[2]

For 33 days from 1 January 1990, 250 trams were parked in Melbourne's CBD streets by tram drivers. The Cain government wanted to save $24 million a year, by the introduction of a new Met Ticket system – or scratchies as they were colloquially known. Scratch tickets were supposed to save money by cutting 550 ticket conductor jobs and 550 train station staff. The trams did not move because the government shut down the power grid.[11]

In February 1990, it was rumoured that Pyramid, a privately owned building society, was in difficulties. Ministers in Cain's government accepted assurances from Pyramid directors that the society's position was sound, and passed these assurances on to the public. In fact, it was insolvent. When it failed, causing thousands of investors and depositors to lose their money, the government was blamed by investors and the media. This was followed shortly after by the collapse of Tricontinental Bank, which threatened to bankrupt the Victorian Government-owned State Bank, Victoria's largest financial institution. The bank eventually had to be sold to the Commonwealth Bank, which was shortly thereafter privatised by the federal government.[2]

By this time Cain was becoming frustrated at the reluctance of his government's caucus members to approve his plans for tax rises and spending cuts to reduce the growing budget deficit. He issued an ultimatum at the Labor Party Conference – "back me or sack me." When the undermining of his position continued, he resigned on 7 August 1990. During an interview after his resignation, he remarked, "We appointed a few dills but we weren't crook."[4] Kirner was elected Labor leader in Cain's place and became the first female Premier of Victoria. By this time, Labor had bottomed out at 22 percent in opinion polling. Kirner was unable to make up the lost ground, and Labor was heavily defeated at the 1992 Victorian state election. Cain did not run in this election.[2]