1999 Victorian state election

Australian state election April 2022 1999 Victorian state election Victoria parliamentary no 1996 Victorian state election 1996 2002 Victorian state election 2002 All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assemblyand 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council45 seats needed for a majority yes 1999 09 18The supplementary election for Frankston East was held on 16 October 1999. Jeff Kennett b.jpg 137 130 170 10 7 center Jeff Kennett 23 April 1991 Liberal/National coalition Burwood 1,330,928 47.02% 3.46 58 seats 43 15 49.80% 3.66 Steve Bracks at a Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony, August 2006 b.jpg 140 130 170 3 5 center Steve Bracks 22 March 1999 Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) Williamstown 1,289,696 45.57% 2.44 29 seats 42 13 50.20% 3.66 TPP TPP swing 1999 Victorian state election.svg 320px Results in each electorate. Premier Elected Premier Jeff Kennett Liberal/National coalition Steve Bracks Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch) The 1999 Victorian state election was held on Saturday 18 September 1999 to elect the 54th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council were up for election. The Liberal–National Coalition led by Jeff Kennett and Pat McNamara, which had held majority government since the 1992 election, lost 15 seats and its majority due mainly to a swing against it in rural and regional Victoria. The Labor Party, led by Steve Bracks, although also not having majority of the seats, took government due to support from three rural independents. They decided to back the Labor Party, which gave a working majority in the chamber to a Labor minority government. Bracks was sworn in as Premier of Victoria on 20 October 1999. Economou Nick June 2000 Australian Political Chronicle: July–December 1999 Australian Journal of Politics and History 46 2 226–237 0004-9522 Future Premiers Jacinta Allan and Ted Baillieu entered parliament at this election. Results Post-election pendulum for the 1999 Victorian state election Legislative Assembly Results of the 1999 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly) File:1999 Victorian Legislative Assembly.svg 3130338 72800 0.28 0.13 Labor 1289696 2.44 42 13 Liberal 1194998 1.77 36 13 National 135930 1.69 7 2 Greens 32570 New 0 #00ffff Hope 10894 New 0 One Nation 8181 New 0 Democrats 7972 New 0 Democratic Labour 6183 New 0 #adff2f Natural Law 6044 1.65 0 Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Shooters 2011 0.03 0 #cfb53b Reform 1483 New 0 Christian Democrats 414 0.21 0 Independents 133701 1.12 3 2 y Two-party-preferred Labor 1420775 3.66 #06667c Liberal/National Coalition 1409567 3.66 Hughes Colin A. Colin Hughes A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1985-1999 Federation Press Sydney 2002 320https://www.abc.net.au/elections/archive/vic/VIC1999_ResultsBook.pdf#page=26 1999 Victorian State Election - Summary of Results Antony Green Australian Broadcasting Corporation June 2001 5 July 2013 Legislative Council Results of the 1999 Victorian state election (Legislative Council) thumb|300px|Results for the Legislative Council. The following voting statistics exclude the three mid-term by-elections held on the same day, at which two seats were retained by Labor and a third was gained by Labor from the Liberals. Victorian state election, 18 September 1999Hughes (2002) p.321. Legislative Council yes 3,130,338 2,909,727 92.95 –1.13 97,949 3.37 +0.79 Labor VIC 1,187,484 42.23 +1.74 8 14 Liberal VIC 1,116,347 39.70 –4.17 11 24 Nationals VIC 204,587 7.28 +0.65 3 6 Democrats 190,940 6.79 +1.06 0 0 Greens VIC 62,796 2.23 New 0 0 Reform 6,617 0.24 New 0 0 Christian Democrats 6,608 0.24 +0.04 0 0 Independent 36,399 1.29 +0.35 0 0 2,811,778 22 44 Labor VIC 1,408,843 50.12 +4.08 Liberal VIC Liberal/National 1,402,338 49.88 –4.08 |} Maps Results of the 1999 Victorian state election, Rural districts Results of the 1999 Victorian state election, Metropolitan districts Seats changing hands Seat Pre-1999 Swing Post-1999 Party Member Margin Margin Member PartyBallarat East LiberalBarry Traynor 0.1 -3.7 3.7Geoff HowardLabor Ballarat West LiberalPaul Jenkins 1.4 -2.4 1.0Karen OveringtonLabor Bendigo East LiberalMichael John 5.0 -8.1 3.1Jacinta AllanLabor Carrum LiberalDavid Lean 0.8 -1.0 0.2Jenny LindellLabor Frankston East IndependentPeter McLellan* 3.1 -7.7 4.6Matt VineyLabor Geelong LiberalAnn Henderson 3.5 -3.5 0.03Ian TreziseLabor Gippsland East NationalDavid Treasure 15.2 -22.9 7.7Craig IngramIndependent Gisborne LiberalTom Reynolds 7.8 -9.4 1.6Jo DuncanLabor Narracan LiberalFlorian Andrighetto 1.6 -4.1 2.5Ian MaxfieldLabor Oakleigh LiberalDenise McGill 0.8 -4.1 3.3Ann BarkerLabor Ripon LiberalSteve Elder 4.6 -7.2 2.6Joe HelperLabor Seymour LiberalMarie Tehan 4.2 -4.9 0.7Ben HardmanLabor Tullamarine LiberalBernie Finn 3.0 -6.8 3.8Liz BeattieLabor Warrnambool NationalJohn McGrath 13.8 -22.7 8.9John VogelsLiberal  Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats. The Liberal-turned-Independent member for Frankston East, Peter McLellan died on election day. A supplementary election was held in which Labor won. In addition, Labor won Mitcham in a by-election and retained it in this election. In addition, Independent Susan Davies won Gippsland West in a by-election and retained it in this election. Campaign The Kennett government entered the campaign with a substantial lead in the polls and was widely expected to win, some commentators even tipped the government to increase their already large majority.Woodward Dennis Costar, Brian The Victorian Election of 18 September 1999 Australian Journal of Political Science 35 1 125–133 10.1080/10361140050002881 2000 153439196 The Liberals ran a campaign centred on Jeff Kennett and the unusual jeff.com.au website. The presidential nature of the campaign was emphasised when the Herald Sun ran a damaging front-page story revealing that most Liberal candidates were gagged from speaking to the media.Bennett S. & Newman G., 'Victorian Election 1999', Australian Parliamentary Library Research Paper https://web.archive.org/web/20070613101634/http://www.aph.gov.au/LIBRARY/Pubs/rp/1999-2000/2000rp19.htm 2007-06-13 The Coalition stuck to a message of focusing on its economic record, and promising modest increases in spending in schools, hospitals and police. In contrast Labor sought to tap into perceptions in rural Victoria that the Kennett government had neglected them. Both John Brumby who led Labor until early 1999 and Steve Bracks campaigned extensively in rural and regional Victoria, attacking Coalition policies of privatisation highlighting poor service delivery. Labor also took the unusual step of launching their campaign in the regional centre of Ballarat where it announced it would spend $170 million to improve rural infrastructure. In addition Labor campaigned on issues of government transparency and service administration.Bennett S. & Newman G., 'Victorian Election 1999', Australian Parliamentary Library Research Paper By election day few people believed that there would be a change of government. When The Australian published a poll which suggested the result would be a cliffhanger, Steve Bracks is said to have stated 'I hope it's right, but I think The Australian is on drugs.'Megalogenis George The Longest Decade Scribe Melbourne 2006 54 Kennett during the campaign was at the centre of controversy over a heated interview with ABC Radio presenter Jon Faine.2019-10-10 'I'll just sit here and drink my tea': Jeff Kennett's tense interview on ABC https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-11/jeff-kennetts-tense-interview-on-abc/11417696 2023-10-11 www.abc.net.au en-AU Election day On the afternoon of the election, while polling was being conducted, it was learned that Liberal-turned-Independent member for the marginal seat of Frankston East, Peter McLellan, had died of a heart attack. Polling was therefore aborted, with a supplementary election to be scheduled. When the results started to come through, it appeared that there was only a modest swing to Labor in metropolitan Melbourne, even in the politically volatile eastern suburbs. However, there was a substantial swing to Labor in provincial and rural Victoria, traditionally a Liberal stronghold. Political analyst and ABC commentator Antony Green later wrote that "in the more than 35 elections I've been involved in, the 1999 Victorian election was the only one where I thought there was something wrong with the computer."Comment by Antony Green at pollbludger ( https://web.archive.org/web/20140509001053/http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/?p=356#comments 9 May 2014, 8 May 2006, accessed 2 February 2010. When the Victorian Electoral Commission finished counting for the night, the result was still too close to call: Labor had made huge gains in the rural hinterland, but had failed to make much headway in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne where elections had historically been won or lost. Frankston East and rural independents 1999 Frankston East state supplementary election Initial counting had the Coalition on 43 seats in the 88-seat chamber, Labor on 41 (including winning the seat of Geelong by just 16 votes), and the independents on three. Frankston East remained vacant pending the results of the 16 October supplementary election. As McLellan died on the day of the general election, voters in Frankston East had already cast votes before learning of McLellan's death. As McLellan died while the campaign was underway, the Victorian constitution required a supplementary election in the seat. Regardless of who won in Frankston East, neither the Coalition nor Labor could form a government without the support of the independents, leaving them in a position to effectively choose the next premier. On 16 October, the supplementary election resulted in a 7.71% swing to Labor, with its candidate Matt Viney winning 54.60% of the two-party preferred vote, putting Labor on 42 seats. The votes that were cast in Frankston East on the day of the election and McLellan's death had been destroyed without being counted. It is therefore unknown whether Frankston East voters had voted differently in the supplementary election than the way they voted at the general election. The next morning, Labor and the Independents signed an agreement which became public the following day. Although this allowed Labor to form government by one seat, Kennett's supporters urged the Coalition to force a last-ditch confidence vote on the floor of the Assembly. They believed that Savage, Davies and Ingram would be forced to publicly support Kennett. In truth, Savage and Davies felt that Kennett had been dismissive during the previous term, and would not have even considered supporting any government led by Kennett. However, with the Liberals divided on Kennett's future role, Kennett resigned as premier and retired from politics. Aftermath Kennett's resignation became official on 20 October. Soon afterward, Bracks advised the Governor, Sir James Gobbo, that he could form a government, which was duly sworn in later that day. With Kennett retiring from politics, Dr Denis Napthine, a rural MP who was believed to bring a more consensus-style approach to leadership, succeeded him as Liberal leader.https://www.gazette.vic.gov.au/gazette/Gazettes1999/GG1999S155.pdf 1999:S155 (Special) 20 October 1999 Ministers of the Crown Nationals leader Pat McNamara retired from politics as well. His successor, Peter Ryan, tore up the Coalition agreement; the Liberals and Nationals would not resume their Coalition until 2008. Labor won Kennett's old seat of Burwood in a by-election that December after he decided to retire from parliament. The following year they also won McNamara's hitherto safe seat of Benalla in another by-election, which brought them to 44 of the Assembly's 88 seats. See also Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, 1999–2002 Members of the Victorian Legislative Council, 1999–2002 Candidates of the 1999 Victorian state election 1999 AFL first preliminary final Notes References Category:Elections in Victoria (state) Category:1999 elections in Australia Category:1990s in Victoria (state) Category:September 1999 in Australia