1985 Victorian state election

1985 Victorian state election
All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly; and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
	Results by winning party by electorate for the Legislative Assembly.
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.

Results[]

Legislative Assembly[]

Victorian state election, 2 March 1985^[1] 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[]

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
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	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 .

Redistribution affected seats[]

Seat	1982 election				1984 redistribution				Swing	1985 election
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	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

Post-election pendulum[]

Labor seats (47)
Marginal
Bentleigh	Gordon Hockley	ALP	0.1%
Warrandyte	Lou Hill	ALP	0.2%
Ballarat South	Frank Sheehan	ALP	1.8%
Mentone	Peter Spyker	ALP	2.0%
Box Hill	Margaret Ray	ALP	2.1%
Ringwood	Kay Setches	ALP	2.7%
St Kilda	Andrew McCutcheon	ALP	2.7%
Bellarine	Graham Ernst	ALP	3.0%
Mitcham	John Harrowfield	ALP	3.7%
Monbulk	Neil Pope	ALP	3.7%
Whittlesea	Max McDonald	ALP	4.6%
Greensborough	Pauline Toner	ALP	5.1%
Wantirna	Carolyn Hirsh	ALP	5.3%
Bendigo West	David Kennedy	ALP	5.7%
Fairly safe
Geelong	Hayden Shell	ALP	6.1%
Oakleigh	Race Mathews	ALP	6.1%
Werribee	Ken Coghill	ALP	6.2%
Springvale	Eddie Micallef	ALP	7.0%
Morwell	Valerie Callister	ALP	7.4%
Frankston North	Jane Hill	ALP	9.0%
Dandenong North	Jan Wilson	ALP	9.1%
Carrum	Ian Cathie	ALP	9.4%
Clayton	Gerard Vaughan	ALP	9.8%
Safe
Dandenong	Terry Norris	ALP	11.1%
Knox	Steve Crabb	ALP	11.4%
Pascoe Vale	Tom Edmunds	ALP	11.4%
Keilor	George Seitz	ALP	11.5%
Essendon	Barry Rowe	ALP	12.1%
Albert Park	Bunna Walsh	ALP	12.2%
Bundoora	John Cain	ALP	12.3%
Niddrie	Jack Simpson	ALP	13.0%
Doveton	Rob Jolly	ALP	14.9%
Melbourne	Keith Remington	ALP	15.2%
Derrimut	David Cunningham	ALP	15.6%
Geelong North	Neil Trezise	ALP	15.8%
Reservoir	Jim Simmonds	ALP	18.7%
Williamstown	Gordon Stirling	ALP	18.8%
Preston	Carl Kirkwood	ALP	19.6%
Broadmeadows	Jack Culpin	ALP	20.0%
Coburg	Peter Gavin	ALP	20.4%
Brunswick	Tom Roper	ALP	20.6%
St Albans	Alex Andrianopoulos	ALP	21.0%
Sunshine	Bill Fogarty	ALP	21.1%
Richmond	Theo Sidiropoulos	ALP	21.4%
Northcote	Frank Wilkes	ALP	21.8%
Footscray	Robert Fordham	ALP	23.4%
Thomastown	Beth Gleeson	ALP	23.9%

Liberal/National seats (41)
Marginal
Narracan	John Delzoppo	LIB	0.4%
Bennettswood	Roger Pescott	LIB	0.8%
Syndal	Geoff Coleman	LIB	1.4%
Ivanhoe	Vin Heffernan	LIB	1.6%
Mornington	Robin Cooper	LIB	2.0%
Dromana	Ron Wells	LIB	2.4%
Evelyn	Jim Plowman	LIB	2.8%
Berwick	Rob Maclellan	LIB	3.1%
South Barwon	Harley Dickinson	LIB	3.4%
Frankston South	Graeme Weideman	LIB	3.6%
Bendigo East	Michael John	LIB	3.9%
Forest Hill	John Richardson	LIB	3.9%
Sandringham	David Lea	LIB	4.9%
Burwood	Jeff Kennett	LIB	5.6%
Doncaster	Morris Williams	LIB	5.6%
Hawthorn	Phil Gude	LIB	5.7%
Fairly safe
Ripon	Tom Austin	LIB	6.5%
Warrnambool	John McGrath	NAT	6.5% v LIB
Prahran	Don Hayward	LIB	6.8%
Ballarat North	Tom Evans	LIB	7.1%
Caulfield	Ted Tanner	LIB	7.3%
Gisborne	Tom Reynolds	LIB	7.5%
Bulleen	David Perrin	LIB	7.8%
Malvern	Geoff Leigh	LIB	9.8%
Safe
Glen Waverley	Ross Smith	LIB	10.1%
Kew	Prue Sibree	LIB	10.2%
Brighton	Alan Stockdale	LIB	12.1%
Gippsland West	Alan Brown	LIB	12.1%
Portland	Digby Crozier	LIB	13.3%
Balwyn	Jim Ramsay	LIB	15.4%
Benalla	Pat McNamara	NAT	16.1%
Gippsland East	Bruce Evans	NAT	17.5%
Polwarth	Ian Smith	LIB	18.3%
Benambra	Lou Lieberman	LIB	19.6%
Gippsland South	Tom Wallace	NAT	21.8%
Murray Valley	Ken Jasper	NAT	22.2%
Shepparton	Peter Ross-Edwards	NAT	22.8%
Mildura	Milton Whiting	NAT	23.0%
Swan Hill	Barry Steggall	NAT	27.6%
Rodney	Eddie Hann	NAT	30.1%
Lowan	Bill McGrath	NAT	30.2%

References[]

^ "Election held on 2 March 1985". Australian Politics and Elections Database. University of Western Australia.

[1] "Election held on 2 March 1985". Australian Politics and Elections Database. University of Western Australia.

[1]

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