1982 Victorian state election

1982 Victoria state election
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
	Results in each electorate.
Premier before election; Lindsay Thompson ; Liberal	Elected Premier ; John Cain Jr. ; Labor

Last updated June 16, 2025

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.

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

Victorian state election, 3 April 1982^[1] 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

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	12	20
	Liberal	874,736	39.21	–4.53	8	20
	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
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	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

Labor seats (49)
Marginal
Frankston	Jane Hill	ALP	0.1%
Bennettswood	Doug Newton	ALP	0.4%
Ivanhoe	Tony Sheehan	ALP	0.5%
Dromana	David Hassett	ALP	1.0%
Sandringham	Graham Ihlein	ALP	1.5%
Ballarat South	Frank Sheehan	ALP	1.9%
Warrandyte	Lou Hill	ALP	2.0%
Ringwood	Kay Setches	ALP	2.1%
Geelong West	Hayden Shell	ALP	2.9%
Monbulk	Neil Pope	ALP	3.0%
Box Hill	Margaret Ray	ALP	3.5%
Prahran	Bob Miller	ALP	3.7%
Syndal	David Gray	ALP	3.8%
Mitcham	John Harrowfield	ALP	3.9%
St Kilda	Andrew McCutcheon	ALP	4.1%
Evelyn	Max McDonald	ALP	4.3%
Glenhuntly	Gerard Vaughan	ALP	4.6%
Bendigo	David Kennedy	ALP	4.9%
Bentleigh	Gordon Hockley	ALP	5.4%
Oakleigh	Race Mathews	ALP	5.9%
Fairly safe
Noble Park	Terry Norris	ALP	6.1%
Geelong East	Graham Ernst	ALP	6.3%
Springvale	Kevin King	ALP	6.9%
Greensborough	Pauline Toner	ALP	8.9%
Essendon	Barry Rowe	ALP	9.4%
Safe
Heatherton	Peter Spyker	ALP	10.3%
Knox	Steve Crabb	ALP	11.3%
Carrum	Ian Cathie	ALP	14.7%
Morwell	Valerie Callister	ALP	15.2%
Dandenong	Rob Jolly	ALP	15.3%
Albert Park	Bunna Walsh	ALP	16.3%
Bundoora	John Cain	ALP	16.6%
Niddrie	Jack Simpson	ALP	16.9%
Geelong North	Neil Trezise	ALP	18.1%
Werribee	Ken Coghill	ALP	18.9%
Melbourne	Keith Remington	ALP	19.4%
Glenroy	Jack Culpin	ALP	21.2%
Reservoir	Jim Simmonds	ALP	21.6%
Williamstown	Gordon Stirling	ALP	21.6%
Ascot Vale	Tom Edmunds	ALP	21.7%
Keilor	George Seitz	ALP	22.1%
Northcote	Frank Wilkes	ALP	23.5%
Preston	Carl Kirkwood	ALP	24.5% v DEM
Coburg	Peter Gavin	ALP	24.8%
Sunshine	Bill Fogarty	ALP	25.5%
Footscray	Robert Fordham	ALP	26.3%
Richmond	Theo Sidiropoulos	ALP	26.3%
Brunswick	Tom Roper	ALP	28.9%
Broadmeadows	John Wilton	ALP	31.9%

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%

References

↑ Election held on 3 April 1982, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).

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[1] Election held on 3 April 1982, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).

[1]

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See also: Legislative Assembly by-elections Legislative Council by-elections