1982 Victorian state election

The 1982 Victoria state election was held on Saturday, 3 April 1982, was for the 49th Parliament of Victoria to elect 81 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council.

1982 Victoria state election

3 April 1982 (1982-04-03)
All 81 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council 41 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Cain Jr. Lindsay Thompson Peter Ross-Edwards Party Labor Liberal National Leader since 9 September 1981 5 June 1981 17 June 1970 Leader's seat Bundoora Malvern Shepparton Last election 32 seats 41 seats 8 seats Seats won 49 seats 24 seats 8 seats Seat change 17 17 0 Popular vote 1,122,887 860,669 111,579 Percentage 50.01% 38.33% 4.97% Swing 4.77 3.11 0.64 TPP 53.78% 46.22% TPP swing 4.25 4.25
Results in each electorate.
Premier before election Lindsay Thompson Liberal Elected Premier John Cain Jr. Labor

Lindsay Thompson succeeded Rupert Hamer as Liberal Party leader and Premier on 5 June 1981, and John Cain Jr. replaced Frank Wilkes as Labor Party leader in September 1981. The incumbent Liberal government led by Lindsay Thompson was defeated by the Labor Party led by John Cain with a swing of 17 seats. The ALP returned to government in Victoria for the first time in 27 years.

Results

Legislative Assembly

See also: Results of the 1982 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly)

Victorian state election, 3 April 1982 Legislative Assembly << 1979–1985 >>
Enrolled voters		2,453,642
Votes cast		2,305,773		Turnout	93.97	−0.67
Informal votes		60,272		Informal	2.61	−0.40
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	1,122,887	50.01	+4.77	49	+17
	Liberal	860,669	38.33	−3.11	24	−17
	Democrats	119,083	5.30	+0.10	0	±0
	National	111,579	4.97	−0.64	8	±0
	Democratic Labour	7,635	0.34	−0.17	0	±0
	Independent	23,648	1.05	-0.37	0	±0
Total		2,245,501			81
Two-party-preferred
	Labor	1,207,197	53.8	+4.5
	Liberal	1,037,506	46.2	–4.5

Legislative Council

See also: Results of the 1982 Victorian state election (Legislative Council)

Victorian state election, 3 April 1982 Legislative Council << 1979–1985 >>
Enrolled voters		2,453,642
Votes cast		2,302,973		Turnout	93.86	+0.64
Informal votes		72,167		Informal	3.13	–0.40
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Labor	1,105,650	49.56	+4.23	11	19
	Liberal	874,736	39.21	–4.53	9	21
	National	122,637	5.50	+0.37	2	4
	Democrats	112,098	5.03	+2.17	0	0
	Democratic Labour	11,780	0.53	+0.38	0	0
	Independent	3,904	0.18	–1.87	0	0
Total		2,230,805			22	44

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1982				Swing	Post-1982
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Ballarat South		Liberal	Joan Chambers	0.4	-2.3	1.9	Frank Sheehan	Labor
Bendigo		Liberal	Daryl McClure	1.2	-6.1	4.9	David Kennedy	Labor
Bennettswood		Liberal	Keith McCance	6.1	-6.5	0.4	Doug Newton	Labor
Box Hill		Liberal	Donald Mackinnon	3.6	-7.1	3.5	Margaret Ray	Labor
Dromana		Liberal	Ron Wells	6.7	-7.7	1.0	David Hassett	Labor
Evelyn		Liberal	Jim Plowman	3.8	-8.1	4.3	Max McDonald	Labor
Frankston		Liberal	Graeme Weideman	7.2	-7.3	0.1	Jane Hill	Labor
Geelong West		Liberal	Hayden Birrell	0.8	-3.7	2.9	Hayden Shell	Labor
Ivanhoe		Liberal	Bruce Skeggs	3.4	-3.9	0.5	Tony Sheehan	Labor
Mitcham		Liberal	George Cox	0.7	-4.6	3.9	John Harrowfield	Labor
Monbulk		Liberal	Bill Borthwick	2.2	-5.2	3.0	Neil Pope	Labor
Noble Park		Liberal	Peter Collins	1.0	-7.1	6.1	Terry Norris	Labor
Ringwood		Liberal	Peter McArthur	4.1	-6.2	2.1	Kay Setches	Labor
St Kilda		Liberal	Brian Dixon	0.2	-4.3	4.1	Andrew McCutcheon	Labor
Sandringham		Liberal	Max Crellin	1.8	-3.3	1.5	Graham Ihlein	Labor
Syndal		Liberal	Geoff Coleman	0.7	-4.5	3.8	David Gray	Labor
Warrandyte		Liberal	Norman Lacy	6.1	-8.1	2.0	Lou Hill	Labor

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

Post-election pendulum

Liberal/National seats (32)
Marginal
Forest Hill	John Richardson	LIB	0.2%
Wantirna	Don Saltmarsh	LIB	0.8%
Gisborne	Tom Reynolds	LIB	0.9%
South Barwon	Harley Dickinson	LIB	1.1%
Berwick	Rob Maclellan	LIB	1.2%
Mentone	Bill Templeton	LIB	1.2%
Midlands	Bill Ebery	LIB	1.3%
Narracan	John Delzoppo	LIB	1.7%
Hawthorn	Walter Jona	LIB	2.6%
Westernport	Alan Brown	LIB	3.9%
Ripon	Tom Austin	LIB	4.7%
Ballarat North	Tom Evans	LIB	4.9%
Doncaster	Morris Williams	LIB	5.5%
Fairly safe
Burwood	Jeff Kennett	LIB	6.6%
Caulfield	Ted Tanner	LIB	7.0%
Gippsland South	Tom Wallace	NAT	8.6% v LIB
Portland	Don McKellar	LIB	8.8%
Safe
Kew	Prue Sibree	LIB	10.1%
Warrnambool	Ian Smith	LIB	11.3%
Balwyn	Jim Ramsay	LIB	11.4%
Brighton	Jeannette Patrick	LIB	11.9%
Benalla	Pat McNamara	NAT	13.4%
Malvern	Lindsay Thompson	LIB	13.6%
Gippsland East	Bruce Evans	NAT	14.1%
Mildura	Milton Whiting	NAT	16.7%
Benambra	Lou Lieberman	LIB	16.9%
Polwarth	Cec Burgin	LIB	16.9%
Shepparton	Peter Ross-Edwards	NAT	18.3%
Murray Valley	Ken Jasper	NAT	19.0%
Lowan	Bill McGrath	NAT	25.5%
Rodney	Eddie Hann	NAT	26.9%
Swan Hill	Alan Wood	LIB	27.0%

See also

• Candidates of the 1982 Victorian state election