1996 Victorian state election

The 1996 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 30 March 1996, was for the 53rd 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. The election took place four weeks after the 1996 federal election which swept the Labor Party from power nationally.

1996 Victorian state election
30 March 1996 (1996-03-30)
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 John Brumby
Party Liberal/National coalition Labor
Leader since 23 April 1991 June 1993
Leader's seat Burwood Broadmeadows
Last election 61 seats 27 seats
Seats won 58 29
Seat change Decrease3 Increase2
Popular vote 1,397,352 1,189,475
Percentage 50.68% 43.13%
Swing Decrease1.27 Increase4.72
TPP 53.47% 46.53%
TPP swing Decrease2.81 Increase2.83
Results in each electorate.
Premier before election

Jeff Kennett
Liberal/National coalition

 Elected Premier

Jeff Kennett
Liberal/National coalition

The Liberal–National Coalition led by Jeff Kennett and Pat McNamara was returned for a second term. A swing against the government did not produce a significant seat transfer to the Labor Party, now led by John Brumby and still recovering from its landslide defeat at the October 1992 state election. While Labor obtained significant swings in safe Coalition seats, the marginal outer suburban electorates swung further towards the government.[1] The overall two party preferred swing was 2.8% to Labor.

The first signs of rural discontent with the Kennett government began to appear at this election. Independent candidate Russell Savage won Mildura from the Liberals, while other independents polled strongly in the Coalition-held electorates of Benalla, Gippsland East, Polwarth and Rodney.[2]

Results
See also: Post-election pendulum for the 1996 Victorian state election

Legislative Assembly
See also: Results of the 1996 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly)

Victorian state election, 30 March 1996[3][4]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1992–1999 >>

Enrolled voters 3,000,076
Votes cast 2,822,531 Turnout 94.08 –1.05
Informal votes 64,964 Informal 2.30 –1.51
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Liberal 1,212,933 43.99 –0.17 49 – 3
  Labor 1,189,475 43.13 +4.72 29 + 2
  National 184,419 6.69 –1.14 9 ± 0
  Natural Law 51,231 1.86 +0.54 0 ± 0
  Call to Australia 6,222 0.23 +0.19 0 ± 0
  Other 13,964 0.51 –0.22 0 ± 0
  Independent 99,426 3.61 –3.90 1 + 1
Total 2,757,567     88  
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal/National 1,472,365 53.47 –2.83
  Labor 1,281,418 46.53 +2.83

Legislative Council
See also: Results of the 1996 Victorian state election (Legislative Council)
Results for the Legislative Council.

Victorian state election, 30 March 1996[5]
Legislative Council

Enrolled voters 3,000,076
Votes cast 2,826,467 Turnout 94.21 –1.01
Informal votes 72,800 Informal 2.58 –1.53
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes  % Swing Seats
won		 Seats
held
  Liberal 1,208,168 43.87 +0.38 14 28
  Labor 1,114,843 40.49 +1.93 5 10
  National 182,494 6.63 –2.11 3 6
  Democrats 157,798 5.73 +5.42 0 0
  Democratic Labour 43,553 1.58 –2.96 0 0
  Natural Law 14,129 0.51 –0.11 0 0
  Call to Australia 5,576 0.20 +0.12 0 0
  Friendly Migrant Workers 1,339 0.05 +0.05 0 0
  Independent 25,767 0.94 –2.15 0 0
Total 2,753,667     22 44
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal/National 1,482,617 53.96 –2.69
  Labor 1,264,879 46.04 +2.69

Seats changing hands
Seat Pre-1996 Swing Post-1996
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Bendigo West   Liberal Max Turner 1.1 -2.8 1.7 Bob Cameron Labor  
Carrum   Labor Mal Sandon 0.9 -1.7 0.8 David Lean Liberal  
Essendon   Liberal Ian Davis 1.2 -4.6 3.6 Judy Maddigan Labor  
Ivanhoe   Liberal Vin Heffernan 4.3 -5.9 1.6 Craig Langdon Labor  
Mildura   Liberal Craig Bildstien 20.9 -22.3 1.4 Russell Savage Independent  

Key dates
Date Event
5 March 1996 The Legislative Council was prorogued and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[6]
5 March 1996 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[6]
8 March 1996 The electoral rolls were closed.
15 March 1996 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
30 March 1996 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
3 April 1996 The Kennett Ministry was re-constituted.[7]
19 April 1996 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

See also

References
  1. Economou N. & Costar B.J. 'The Electoral Contest and Coalition Dominance 1992-1998' in Costar B.J & Economou N. (eds) The Kennett Revolution, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1999, p. 124
  2. "1996 Victorian Legislative Assembly elections". Psephos Adam Carr's Election Archive.
  3. Hughes, Colin A. (2002). A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1985-1999. Sydney: Federation Press. p. 318.
  4. Antony Green (December 1998). "1996 Victorian State Election - Summary of Results" (PDF). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  5. Hughes (2002) p.319.
  6. "Proclamation". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 5 March 1996. p. 1996:S17 (Special).
  7. "Ministers of the Crown". Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 3 April 1996. p. 1996:S33 (Special).
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