1988 Victorian state election

The 1988 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 1 October 1988, was for the 51st 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.

1988 Victorian state election
1 October 1988 (1988-10-01)
All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
  First party Second party Third party
 
NAT
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 47 seats 31 seats 10 seats
Seats won 46 seats 33 seats 9 seats
Seat change Decrease1 Increase2 Decrease 1
Percentage 46.55% 40.51% 7.76%
Swing Decrease3.46 Decrease1.30 Increase 0.47
Results by winning party by electorate for the Legislative Assembly.
Premier before election

John Cain Jr.
Labor

 Elected Premier

John Cain Jr.
Labor

The incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier John Cain Jr. won a third term in office, despite a swing against it, and only lost the seat of Warrandyte in Melbourne's north-east. This was credited by commentators to a strong campaign targeting Liberal leader Jeff Kennett whose aggressive leadership style was still seen as a liability, as well as continuing instability in the federal Coalition.[1] Labor's narrow wins in middle class marginal seats saw it retain its majority despite the Liberals winning a bare majority of the two party preferred vote.[2]

Results

Legislative Assembly
See also: Results of the 1988 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly)

Victorian state election, 1 October 1988
Legislative Assembly
<< 1985–1992 >>

Enrolled voters 2,739,614
Votes cast 2,530,027 Turnout 92.35 -0.86
Informal votes 98,525 Informal 3.89 +1.21
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 1,131,750 46.55 –3.46 46 – 1
  Liberal 986,311 40.56 –1.30 33 + 2
  National 188,776 7.76 +0.47 9 – 1
  Democrats 25,611 1.05 +1.05 0 ± 0
  Call to Australia 25,543 1.05 +1.05 0 ± 0
  Democratic Labour 6,018 0.25 +0.25 0 ± 0
  Independent 67,493 2.78 +1.94 0 ± 0
Total 2,431,502     88  
Two-party-preferred
  Labor 1,202,294 49.49 –1.21
  Liberal 1,227,295 50.51 +1.21

Legislative Council
See also: Results of the 1988 Victorian state election (Legislative Council)

Victorian state election, 1 October 1988
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 2,739,614
Votes cast 2,529,569 Turnout 92.33 –0.86
Informal votes 109,578 Informal 4.33 +1.32
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats
won		 Seats
held
  Labor 1,164,796 48.13 +0.85 9 19
  Liberal 1,052,591 43.50 +2.35 10 19
  National 181,074 7.48 +0.81 3 6
  Call to Australia 5,363 0.22 –0.49 0 0
  Independent 16,167 0.67 +0.45 0 0
Total 2,419,991     22 44

Seats changing hands
Seat Pre-1988 Swing Post-1988
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Mildura   National Milton Whiting 23.0 -24.0 1.0 Craig Bildstien Liberal  
Warrandyte   Labor Lou Hill 0.2 -1.7 1.5 Phil Honeywood Liberal  
  • Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

Key dates
Date Event
29 August 1988 The Legislative Council was prorogued and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[3]
29 August 1988 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[3]
2 September 1988 The Constitution Act Amendment (Electoral Procedures) Act 1988 (No.31) comes into operation.[4]
5 September 1988 The electoral rolls were closed.
9 September 1988 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
1 October 1988 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
13 October 1988 The Cain Ministry was reconstituted, with two new ministers sworn in.[5]
21 October 1988 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
25 October 1988 Parliament resumed for business.[6]

Post-election pendulum
Labor seats (46)
Marginal
Ballarat South Frank Sheehan ALP 0.2%
Bellarine Graham Ernst ALP 0.7%
Bendigo West David Kennedy ALP 0.9%
Bentleigh Ann Barker ALP 1.4%
Ringwood Kay Setches ALP 1.7%
Box Hill Margaret Ray ALP 2.1%
Mentone Peter Spyker ALP 2.4%
Geelong Hayden Shell ALP 2.5%
Morwell Keith Hamilton ALP 2.8%
Wantirna Carolyn Hirsh ALP 2.9%
Mitcham John Harrowfield ALP 3.0%
Monbulk Neil Pope ALP 3.5%
Pascoe Vale Kelvin Thomson ALP 4.4%
Whittlesea Max McDonald ALP 4.7%
St Kilda Andrew McCutcheon ALP 5.6%
Fairly safe
Knox Steve Crabb ALP 6.0%
Greensborough Pauline Toner ALP 6.1%
Springvale Eddie Micallef ALP 6.4%
Essendon Barry Rowe ALP 6.7%
Oakleigh Race Mathews ALP 7.3%
Carrum Mal Sandon ALP 7.5%
Dandenong North Jan Wilson ALP 8.1%
Niddrie Bob Sercombe ALP 8.1%
Doveton Rob Jolly ALP 8.3%
Frankston North Jane Hill ALP 8.8%
Albert Park Bunna Walsh ALP 8.9%
Clayton Gerard Vaughan ALP 8.9%
Broadmeadows Jim Kennan ALP 9.9%
Safe
Bundoora John Cain ALP 10.2%
Werribee Ken Coghill ALP 10.5%
Keilor George Seitz ALP 11.4%
Dandenong Terry Norris ALP 12.6%
St Albans Alex Andrianopoulos ALP 12.7%
Derrimut David Cunningham ALP 13.3%
Geelong North Neil Trezise ALP 14.0%
Coburg Peter Gavin ALP 15.3%
Reservoir Jim Simmonds ALP 16.4%
Brunswick Tom Roper ALP 16.7%
Richmond Demetri Dollis ALP 17.3%
Williamstown Joan Kirner ALP 17.7%
Melbourne Neil Cole ALP 18.0%
Preston Michael Leighton ALP 21.1%
Sunshine Ian Baker ALP 21.5%
Northcote Tony Sheehan ALP 21.7%
Thomastown Beth Gleeson ALP 22.4%
Footscray Robert Fordham ALP 23.7%
Liberal/National seats (42)
Marginal
Syndal Geoff Coleman LIB 0.7%
Mildura Craig Bildstien LIB 1.0% v NAT
Berwick Rob Maclellan LIB 1.4%
Warrandyte Phil Honeywood LIB 1.5%
Narracan John Delzoppo LIB 1.7%
Dromana Ron Wells LIB 1.8%
Mornington Robin Cooper LIB 2.0%
Bennettswood Roger Pescott LIB 2.2%
Ivanhoe Vin Heffernan LIB 2.4%
Forest Hill John Richardson LIB 2.9%
Ballarat North Steve Elder LIB 3.5%
Evelyn Jim Plowman LIB 4.0%
South Barwon Harley Dickinson LIB 4.8%
Frankston South Graeme Weideman LIB 4.9%
Caulfield Ted Tanner LIB 5.1%
Burwood Jeff Kennett LIB 5.6%
Bendigo East Michael John LIB 5.7%
Fairly safe
Gisborne Tom Reynolds LIB 6.4%
Sandringham David Lea LIB 6.4%
Ripon Tom Austin LIB 6.9%
Doncaster Victor Perton LIB 7.4%
Prahran Don Hayward LIB 7.4%
Hawthorn Phil Gude LIB 8.0%
Glen Waverley Ross Smith LIB 8.5%
Bulleen David Perrin LIB 9.2%
Safe
Kew Jan Wade LIB 11.0%
Portland Denis Napthine LIB 11.2%
Malvern Geoff Leigh LIB 11.9%
Gippsland West Alan Brown LIB 12.6%
Brighton Alan Stockdale LIB 13.0%
Balwyn Robert Clark LIB 14.3%
Polwarth Ian Smith LIB 16.1%
Benalla Pat McNamara NAT 17.9%
Gippsland East Bruce Evans NAT 19.4%
Gippsland South Tom Wallace NAT 20.2%
Murray Valley Ken Jasper NAT 21.4%
Shepparton Peter Ross-Edwards NAT 21.5%
Benambra Lou Lieberman LIB 21.6%
Warrnambool John McGrath NAT 27.3%
Swan Hill Barry Steggall NAT 28.0%
Rodney Eddie Hann NAT 28.6%
Lowan Bill McGrath NAT 32.0%

Aftermath

On 23 May 1989, Jeff Kennett was voted out of the Liberal leadership in favour of Alan Brown; Brown led the party until 23 April 1991 when he was also forced out after a successful comeback by Kennett. 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]

References
  1. Costar, Brian; Economou, Nick (1992). "Elections and Electoral Change 1982–92". In Considine, M.; Costar, B. J. (eds.). Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and Victoria 1982–92. pp. 255–256.
  2. Shamshullah, Ardel (June 1989). "Australian Political Chronicle: July–December 1988: Victoria". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 35 (2): 252–253. ISSN 0004-9522.
  3. "Proroguing the Legislative Council and dissolving the Legislative Assembly: Proclamation". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 29 August 1988. p. 1988:S77 (Special).
  4. "Constitution Act Amendment (Electoral Procedures) Act 1988 (No.31): Proclamation of Commencement". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 2 September 1988. p. 1988:S79 (Special).
  5. "Ministers of the Crown". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 13 October 1988. p. 1988:S84 (Special).
  6. "Fixing the time for holding the first session of the Fifty-first Parliament of Victoria". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 13 October 1988. p. 1988:S83.
  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

See also
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