# 1996 Victorian state election

The 1996 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 30 March 1996, was for the 53rd 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 election took place four weeks after the 1996 federal election which swept the Labor Party from power nationally.
The Liberal–National Coalition led by Jeff Kennett and Pat McNamara was returned for a second term. A swing against the government did not produce a significant seat transfer to the Labor Party, now led by John Brumby and still recovering from its landslide defeat at the October 1992 state election. While Labor obtained significant swings in safe Coalition seats, the marginal outer suburban electorates swung further towards the government. The overall two party preferred swing was 2.8% to Labor.
The first signs of rural discontent with the Kennett government began to appear at this election. Independent candidate Russell Savage won Mildura from the Liberals, while other independents polled strongly in the Coalition-held electorates of Benalla, Gippsland East, Polwarth and Rodney.

## Results
### Legislative Assembly

Victorian state election, 30 March 1996 Legislative Assembly
<< 1992–1999 >> :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 3,000,076 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 2,822,531 | | Turnout | 94.08 | –1.05 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 64,964 | | Informal | 2.30 | –1.51 |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Liberal | 1,212,933 | 43.99 | –0.17 | 49 | – 3 |
| | Labor | 1,189,475 | 43.13 | +4.72 | 29 | + 2 |
| | National | 184,419 | 6.69 | –1.14 | 9 | ± 0 |
| | Natural Law | 51,231 | 1.86 | +0.54 | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Call to Australia | 6,222 | 0.23 | +0.19 | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Other | 13,964 | 0.51 | –0.22 | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Independent | 99,426 | 3.61 | –3.90 | 1 | + 1 |
| Total | Total | 2,757,567 | | | 88 | |
| Two-party-preferred |||||||
| | Liberal/National | 1,472,365 | 53.47 | –2.83 | | |
| | Labor | 1,281,418 | 46.53 | +2.83 | | |

### Legislative Council

Victorian state election, 30 March 1996 Legislative Council :
| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 3,000,076 | | | | |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 2,826,467 | | Turnout | 94.21 | –1.01 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 72,800 | | Informal | 2.58 | –1.53 |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held |
| | Liberal | 1,208,168 | 43.87 | +0.38 | 14 | 28 |
| | Labor | 1,114,843 | 40.49 | +1.93 | 5 | 10 |
| | National | 182,494 | 6.63 | –2.11 | 3 | 6 |
| | Democrats | 157,798 | 5.73 | +5.42 | 0 | 0 |
| | Democratic Labour | 43,553 | 1.58 | –2.96 | 0 | 0 |
| | Natural Law | 14,129 | 0.51 | –0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | Call to Australia | 5,576 | 0.20 | +0.12 | 0 | 0 |
| | Friendly Migrant Workers | 1,339 | 0.05 | +0.05 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independent | 25,767 | 0.94 | –2.15 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 2,753,667 | | | 22 | 44 |
| Two-party-preferred |||||||
| | Liberal/National | 1,482,617 | 53.96 | –2.69 | | |
| | Labor | 1,264,879 | 46.04 | +2.69 | | |

## Seats changing hands

| Seat | Pre-1996 | Pre-1996 | Pre-1996 | Pre-1996 | Swing | Post-1996 | Post-1996 | Post-1996 | Post-1996 |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Margin | Swing | Margin | Member | Party | Party |
| Bendigo West | | Liberal | Max Turner | 1.1 | -2.8 | 1.7 | Bob Cameron | Labor | |
| Carrum | | Labor | Mal Sandon | 0.9 | -1.7 | 0.8 | David Lean | Liberal | |
| Essendon | | Liberal | Ian Davis | 1.2 | -4.6 | 3.6 | Judy Maddigan | Labor | |
| Ivanhoe | | Liberal | Vin Heffernan | 4.3 | -5.9 | 1.6 | Craig Langdon | Labor | |
| Mildura | | Liberal | Craig Bildstien | 20.9 | -22.3 | 1.4 | Russell Savage | Independent | |

## Key dates

| Date | Event |
| 5 March 1996 | The Legislative Council was prorogued and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved. |
| 5 March 1996 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. |
| 8 March 1996 | The electoral rolls were closed. |
| 15 March 1996 | Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon. |
| 30 March 1996 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 3 April 1996 | The Kennett Ministry was re-constituted. |
| 19 April 1996 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |