1979 Victorian state election

The 1979 Victoria state election, held on Saturday, 5 May 1979, was for the 48th Parliament of Victoria. It was held in the Australian state of Victoria to elect 81 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council.

1979 Victoria state election
5 May 1979 (1979-05-05)
All 81 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
  First party Second party Third party
 
ALP
NAT
Leader Rupert Hamer Frank Wilkes Peter Ross-Edwards
Party Liberal Labor National
Leader since 23 August 1972 29 June 1977 1970
Leader's seat Kew Northcote Shepparton
Last election 52 seats 21 seats 7 seats
Seats won 41 seats 32 seats 8 seats
Seat change Decrease 11 Increase 11 Increase 1
Percentage 41.44% 45.23% 5.61%
Swing Decrease 4.44 Increase 2.80 Decrease 1.46
Results by winning party by electorate for the Legislative Assembly.
Premier before election

Rupert Hamer
Liberal

 Elected Premier

Rupert Hamer
Liberal

The incumbent Liberal government led by Rupert Hamer was returned with a significantly reduced majority.

Results

Legislative Assembly
See also: Results of the 1979 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly)

Victorian state election, 5 May 1979[1]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1976–1982 >>

Enrolled voters 2,350,407
Votes cast 2,193,037 Turnout 93.30 0.62
Informal votes 66,016 Informal 3.01 0.47
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 962,123 45.23 +2.80 32 +11
  Liberal 881,366 41.44 -4.44 41 -11
  National 119,385 5.61 -1.46 8 +1
  Democrats 114,053 5.36 +5.36 0 ±0
  Independent 30,102 1.42 -0.31 0 -1
  Democratic Labour 10,907 0.51 -2.06 0 ±0
  Australia 5,222 0.25 +0.08 0 ±0
  Communist 2,305 0.11 +0.11 0 ±0
  Socialist Workers 1,558 0.07 +0.07 0 ±0
Total 2,127,021     81  
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal 1,073,415 50.5 –5.3
  Labor 1,053,606 49.5 +5.3

Legislative Council
See also: Results of the 1979 Victorian state election (Legislative Council)

Victorian state election, 5 May 1979[2]
Legislative Council
<< 1976–1982 >>

Enrolled voters 2,350,407
Votes cast 2,191,128 Turnout 93.22 +0.03
Informal votes 77,361 Informal 3.53 +0.41
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats
won		 Seats
held
  Labor 958,158 45.33 +2.72 8 13
  Liberal 924,525 43.74 –4.56 12 27
  National 124,050 5.87 –1.98 2 4
  Democrats 60,392 2.86 +2.86 0 0
  Democratic Labour 3,212 0.15 –0.47 0 0
  Independent 43,430 2.05 +1.56 0 0
Total 2,113,767     22 44

Seats changing hands
Seat Pre-1979 Swing Post-1979
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Bentleigh   Liberal Bob Suggett 9.3 -9.5 0.2 Gordon Hockley Labor  
Coburg   Independent Jack Mutton 5.4 -6.6 1.2 Peter Gavin Labor  
Essendon   Liberal Kenneth Wheeler 0.1 -1.6 1.5 Barry Rowe Labor  
Geelong East   Liberal Phil Gude 1.5 -3.2 1.7 Graham Ernst Labor  
Glenhuntly   Liberal Joe Rafferty 8.1 -9.7 1.6 Gerard Vaughan Labor  
Heatherton   Liberal Llew Reese 5.4 -6.4 1.0 Peter Spyker Labor  
Lowan   Liberal Jim McCabe 11.7 -12.2 0.5 Bill McGrath National  
Oakleigh   Liberal Alan Scanlan 1.3 -3.0 1.7 Race Mathews Labor  
Prahran   Liberal Sam Loxton 5.7 -6.6 0.9 Bob Miller Labor  
Springvale   Liberal Norman Billing 4.4 -5.1 0.7 Kevin King Labor  
Werribee   Liberal Neville Hudson 0.1 -8.2 8.1 Ken Coghill Labor  
  • Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
  • In addition, Labor retained the seat of Greensborough, which it had won from the Liberals in a by-election.

Post-election pendulum
Liberal seats (41)
Marginal
St Kilda Brian Dixon LIB 0.2%
Ballarat South Joan Chambers LIB 0.4%
Mitcham George Cox LIB 0.7%
Syndal Geoff Coleman LIB 0.7%
Geelong West Hayden Birrell LIB 0.8%
Noble Park Peter Collins LIB 1.0%
Bendigo Daryl McClure LIB 1.2%
Sandringham Max Crellin LIB 1.6%
Gisborne Tom Reynolds LIB 2.0%
Monbulk Bill Borthwick LIB 2.2%
Ivanhoe Bruce Skeggs LIB 3.4%
Box Hill Donald Mackinnon LIB 3.6%
Caulfield Ted Tanner LIB 3.8%
Evelyn Jim Plowman LIB 3.8%
Ringwood Peter McArthur LIB 4.1%
Forest Hill John Richardson LIB 5.0%
Midlands Bill Ebery LIB 5.0%
Narracan Jim Balfour LIB 5.1%
Ripon Tom Austin LIB 5.2%
Fairly safe
Bennettswood Keith McCance LIB 6.1%
Warrandyte Norman Lacy LIB 6.1%
Ballarat North Tom Evans LIB 6.3%
Mentone Bill Templeton LIB 6.5%
South Barwon Aurel Smith LIB 6.6%
Dromana Roberts Dunstan LIB 6.7%
Frankston Graeme Weideman LIB 7.2%
Wantirna Geoff Hayes LIB 7.6%
Portland Don McKellar LIB 8.0%
Berwick Rob Maclellan LIB 8.2%
Burwood Jeff Kennett LIB 9.1%
Hawthorn Walter Jona LIB 9.8%
Westernport Alan Brown LIB 9.9%
Safe
Doncaster Morris Williams LIB 10.9%
Kew Rupert Hamer LIB 11.2%
Warrnambool Ian Smith LIB 12.4%
Brighton Jeannette Patrick LIB 12.7%
Malvern Lindsay Thompson LIB 15.0%
Balwyn Jim Ramsay LIB 16.0%
Polwarth Cec Burgin LIB 18.7%
Benambra Lou Lieberman LIB 19.1%
Swan Hill Alan Wood LIB 24.8%
Labor seats (32)
Marginal
Bentleigh Gordon Hockley ALP 0.2%
Springvale Kevin King ALP 0.7%
Prahran Bob Miller ALP 0.9%
Heatherton Peter Spyker ALP 1.0%
Coburg Peter Gavin ALP 1.2% v IND
Essendon Barry Rowe ALP 1.5%
Glenhuntly Gerard Vaughan ALP 1.6%
Geelong East Graham Ernst ALP 1.7%
Oakleigh Race Mathews ALP 1.7%
Greensborough Pauline Toner ALP 3.9%
Fairly safe
Dandenong Rob Jolly ALP 6.5%
Werribee Ken Coghill ALP 8.1%
Knox Steve Crabb ALP 8.4%
Niddrie Jack Simpson ALP 9.7%
Safe
Bundoora John Cain ALP 10.6%
Carrum Ian Cathie ALP 11.9%
Albert Park Bunna Walsh ALP 14.0%
Geelong North Neil Trezise ALP 15.2%
Keilor Jack Ginifer ALP 15.2%
Melbourne Keith Remington ALP 16.0%
Morwell Derek Amos ALP 16.6%
Glenroy Jack Culpin ALP 16.7%
Williamstown Gordon Stirling ALP 16.8%
Ascot Vale Tom Edmunds ALP 16.8%
Richmond Theo Sidiropoulos ALP 20.4%
Reservoir Jim Simmonds ALP 21.0%
Preston Carl Kirkwood ALP 21.5%
Northcote Frank Wilkes ALP 21.9%
Footscray Robert Fordham ALP 24.3%
Sunshine Bill Fogarty ALP 24.5%
Brunswick Tom Roper ALP 25.5%
Broadmeadows John Wilton ALP 25.6%
National seats (8)
Lowan Bill McGrath NAT 0.5% v LIB
Gippsland South Neil McInnes NAT 6.9% v LIB
Benalla Tom Trewin NAT 15.4%
Gippsland East Bruce Evans NAT 17.3%
Murray Valley Ken Jasper NAT 20.5%
Shepparton Peter Ross-Edwards NAT 20.8%
Mildura Milton Whiting NAT 22.3%
Rodney Eddie Hann NAT 28.4%

See also

References
  1. Election held on 5 May 1979, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).
  2. Carr, Adam. "Victoria Legislative Council Election 1979". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
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