1985 Victorian state election

1985 Victorian state election

2 March 1985 (1985-03-02)
All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council 45 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   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 49 seats 24 seats 8 seats Seats won 47 seats 31 seats 10 seats Seat change 2 7 2 Popular vote 1,198,262 1,003,003 174,727 Percentage 50.01% 41.86% 7.29% Swing 0.00 3.53 2.32 TPP 50.70% 49.30% TPP swing 3.08 3.08
Results in each electorate.
Premier before election John Cain Jr. Labor Elected Premier John Cain Jr. Labor

The 1985 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 2 March 1985, was for the 50th 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. Since the previous election, the number of members of the Legislative Assembly was increased by 7 to 88.

Lindsay Thompson, who led the Liberal Party to a defeat at the 1982 election with a 17-seat swing against it, resigned the leadership of the party on 5 November 1982. He was succeeded by Jeff Kennett. At the election, the incumbent Labor Party government led by John Cain Jr. maintained its electoral support, though the Liberal Party did increase the number of seats. It was the first time since Federation that a Labor government had been reelected in Victoria. Although the Labor Party lost seats in the lower house it gained a majority in the upper house picking up 4 seats to hold 23 up from 19 at the last election meaning the Liberal/National Coalition no longer had sway on government policy.

Results

Legislative Assembly

See also: Results of the 1985 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly)

Victorian state election, 2 March 1985 Legislative Assembly << 1982–1988 >>
Enrolled voters		2,641,477
Votes cast		2,462,226		Turnout	93.21	−0.76
Informal votes		66,107		Informal	2.68	+0.07
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	1,198,262	50.01	0.00	47	-2
	Liberal	1,003,003	41.86	+3.53	31	+7
	National	174,727	7.29	+2.32	10	+2
	Independent	12,828	0.54	-0.51	0	±0
	Weekend Trading	3,909	0.16	+0.16	0	±0
	Public Transport	3,390	0.14	+0.14	0	±0
Total		2,396,119			88
Two-party-preferred
	Labor	1,214,832	50.7	–3.1
	Liberal	1,181,287	49.3	+3.1

Legislative Council

See also: Results of the 1985 Victorian state election (Legislative Council)

Victorian state election, 2 March 1985 Legislative Council << 1982–1988 >>
Enrolled voters		2,641,477
Votes cast		2,461,708		Turnout	93.19	–0.67
Informal votes		74,202		Informal	3.01	–0.12
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Labor	1,128,747	47.28	–2.28	11	23
	Liberal	982,418	41.15	+1.94	8	16
	National	159,299	6.67	+1.17	3	5
	Democrats	95,045	3.98	–1.05	0	0
	Call to Australia	16,849	0.71	+0.71	0	0
	Independent	5,148	0.22	+0.04	0	0
Total		2,387,506			22	44

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1985				Swing	Post-1985
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Bennettswood		Labor	Doug Newton	1.2	-2.0	0.8	Roger Pescott	Liberal
Dromana		Labor	David Hassett	1.4	-3.8	2.4	Ron Wells	Liberal
Evelyn		Labor	Max McDonald	1.3	-4.1	2.8	Jim Plowman	Liberal
Ivanhoe		Labor	Tony Sheehan	1.3	-2.7	1.6	Vin Heffernan	Liberal
Mornington		Labor	notional - new seat	1.4	-3.4	2.0	Robin Cooper	Liberal
Syndal		Labor	David Gray	0.1	-1.5	1.4	Geoff Coleman	Liberal
Warrnambool		Liberal	Adam Kempton	11.3	-17.8	6.5	John McGrath	National

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
• In addition, the National party retained the seat of Swan Hill, which it had won from the Liberals in a by-election.

Redistribution affected seats

Seat

1982 election

1984 redistribution

Swing

1985 election

Party

Member

Margin

Party

Member

Margin

Margin

Member

Party

Mentone

Liberal

Bill Templeton

1.2

Labor

Notional

3.7

-1.7

2.0

Peter Spyker

Labor

Narracan

Liberal

John Delzoppo

1.7

Labor

Notional

1.4

1.8

0.4

John Delzoppo

Liberal

Prahran

Labor

Bob Miller

3.7

Liberal

Notional

1.7

5.1

6.8

Don Hayward

Liberal

Sandringham

Labor

Graham Ihlein

1.5

Liberal

Notional

2.6

2.3

4.9

David Lea

Liberal

See also

• Candidates of the 1985 Victorian state election