The 1996 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 30 March 1996, was for the 53rd

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, represent ...

. It was held in the

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

to elect all 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. The election took place four weeks after the 1996 federal election which swept the Labor Party from power nationally. The Liberal–

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

led by

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian former politician who served as the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party from 1982 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1999, and the Member for ...

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 John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

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 In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Natio ...

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 Russell Irwin Savage (born 27 January 1948) is an Australian politician, who was the Independent (politician), independent member for the Victoria, Australia, Victorian Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly seat of Electoral distr ...

won

Mildura Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

from the Liberals, while other independents polled strongly in the Coalition-held electorates of

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

Gippsland East The electoral district of Gippsland East is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It covers most of eastern Victoria and includes the towns of Bairnsdale Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is ...

, Polwarth and Rodney.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Seats changing hands

Key dates

References