Victorian state election, 1992

Victorian state election, 1992

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 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.

The Labor government of Premier Joan Kirner, who had replaced John Cain on 10 August 1990, was defeated by the Liberal–National 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 making achieving government. It was believed that they had lost seats due to a number of three-cornered contests in rural areas.

When it became apparent that Labor would stand no chance of winning the next election under his leadership, Cain resigned, and was succeeded by Education Minister Joan Kirner. While Kirner was able to win some respect, she was unable to change Labor's fortunes. Her position became more difficult 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, by nearly all accounts Labor stood no chance of winning a fourth term.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

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

• 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

See also

• Candidates of the Victorian state election, 1992

References

Elections and referendums in Victoria
General elections	1856 1859 1861 1864 1866 1868 1871 1874 1877 1880 (Feb) 1880 (Jul) 1883 1886 1889 1892 1894 1897 1900 1902 1904 1907 1908 1911 1914 1917 1920 1921 1924 1927 1929 1932 1935 1937 1940 1943 1945 1947 1950 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1992 1996 1999 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 by-elections
Upper house elections	1851 1856 1858 1860 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1898 1900 1901 1902 1904 1907 1910 1913 1916 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958
Referendums	1898 1899

Government of Victoria
Executive	Monarchy Governor Lieutenant-Governor Premier Deputy Premier Cabinet Entities Police
Legislative	Parliament Legislative Council Legislative Assembly Electoral regions Electoral districts President of the Legislative Council Speaker of the Legislative Assembly MLCs MLAs Opposition Leader
Judicial	Supreme Court County Court Magistrates' Court Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) Other courts and tribunals