Media Tipping a Labor Government in Victoria

Oct 18, 1999

Steve BracksThe Melbourne media is confidently predicting a change of government in Victoria.

The Age says the three Independent members of parliament are set to choose Labor ahead of the Kennett-led coalition.

The newspapers predict an early recall of State Parliament, perhaps next Tuesday 26 October, and the retirement of Jeff Kennett. The Liberal Party Deputy Leader, Dr. Denis Napthine, is expected to be the new leader of the Liberal Party.

The Independent members appear to be sceptical of Premier Kennett’s undertakings to implement their Charter.

Controversy over the possible filming of the Independents voting out the government in Parliament is being cited as a further reason for the Independents to support Labor. Threats to use the footage in campaign advertising have been condemned by the member for Mildura, Russell Savage.

Filed Under: 1999 Victoria, VIC Tagged With: ,

ALP Wins Frankston East; Fate of Kennett Government Known on Monday

Oct 17, 1999

A major swing of around 8% has delivered the seat of Frankston East to the ALP. Victory for the ALP gives it 42 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the coalition 43, and Independents 3.

Attention now turns to the formation of a minority Coalition or Labor government. The Kennett government needs the support of two independents, whilst the ALP would require all three.

The Independents, Russell Savage, Susan Davies and Craig Ingram, will announce who they will support at 11am on Monday 18 October. The 3 members will announce their decisions separately, an indication that they may be split. Susan Davies will announce her decision at Apex Park in Wonthaggi.

Whilst there is much media speculation this weekend that the Kennett government is about to be defeated, the conservative nature of the electorates Savage and Ingram represent would point to their supporting the coalition, although nothing is certain in the current political climate.

The decision by the Independents will hinge on their reaction to the undertakings given by the coalition and Labor to a Charter of demands.

Filed Under: 1999 Victoria, VIC Tagged With: , , , ,

Kennett Government Mauled in Election Upset; Independents May Hold Balance Of Power; Country Voters Turn On Coalition; Majority Prefers Labor

Sep 19, 1999

The Kennett Government has suffered a mauling in the Victorian State election held on September 18 and is struggling to maintain its majority in the Legislative Assembly.

At the close of counting on Saturday night the government had lost at least 11 seats and was struggling in at least two more. The ALP appears to have secured 41 seats, the Government 42 and Independents 2. There are two seats in doubt. The final result may hinge on a supplementary election to be held in Frankston East.

45 seats are required to form a government, although the government also needs to provide a Speaker from amongst its members.

A hung parliament is possible, as is a minority coalition government. Negotiations with the Independent members, Russell Savage (Mildura) and Susan Davies (Gippsland West) may well be vital to the formation of the next government.

Labor Wins 11 Seats From Coalition

The ALP has won the following seats from the coalition: Ballarat East, Ballarat West, Bendigo East, Carrum, Geelong, Gisborne, Narracan, Oakleigh, Ripon, Seymour, Tullamarine.

Large swings against Liberal and National Party candidates have been recorded in rural electorates. The ALP has won 7 rural seats from the coalition parties.

The ALP has secured an overall swing of around 2.6% of the primary vote. The Liberal vote declined by 2.0% and the National Party’s by 1.9%. Minor parties and independent candidates increased their share of the vote by 1.3%.

The ALP has won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote, 50.1% to the coalition’s 49.9%.

Death of Liberal Renegade May Delay Election Outcome

The State election may ultimately hinge on the result in Frankston East where the election has been declared invalid following the death of the sitting independent and former Liberal member, Peter McClellan.

McClellan won the seat as a Liberal, but resigned during the last Parliament to sit as an Independent. He died overnight. Under such circumstances the result in Frankston East is declared void and a supplementary election will take place some time in the next 6 weeks.

Bracks Jubilant, Kennett Subdued

Opposition Leader Steve Bracks was jubilant when he spoke to cheering Labor supporters on Saturday night. He claimed the result was too close to call and was a victory for decency in Victoria.

Premier Jeff Kennett spoke of a possible new election and a halt to the program of innovation and vision experienced in Victoria over the past 7 years.

Read and listen to the leaders’ speeches by clicking here.

Liberals Lose Prospective Deputy and Future Premier

The defeat of Health Minister Rob Knowles in Gisborne throws into doubt the Liberal Party’s plans to groom a successor to Jeff Kennett. Knowles was defeated in his attempt to transfer from the upper house to the Legislative Assembly. The ALP also won the by-election for his vacant Legislative Council electorate of Ballarat Province.

It is now highly probable that the new member for Brighton, Louise Asher, will be elected deputy leader and be favoured to replace Jeff Kennett.

A.L.P. Hangs Onto 1996 Gains

The A.L.P. has comfortably held the seats it gained at the last State Election in 1996, strengthening its hold on Ivanhoe, Essendon and Bendigo West.

The ALP appears likely to retain Mitcham, a seat it won at a by-election in 1997. The by-election was held to replace long-time Kennett rival, Roger Pescott. The ALP secured a swing in excess of 15% at the by-election. At the close of counting on Saturday, much of that swing had been dissipated, but Tony Robinson was ahead on preferences.

Labor Gains Seats in Legislative Council

The ALP appears likely to win an extra six seats in the Legislative Council, increasing its numbers from 10 to 16 in the 44 seat chamber.

Labor is ahead in Ballarat Province and will also win the by-election created by the resignation of Rob Knowles. Labor is also ahead in the Provinces of Chelsea, Geelong, Eummemering and Waverley.

Links

Filed Under: 1999 Victoria, VIC Tagged With: , , , ,

Kennett Government Struggling To Survive; Big Anti-Liberal Swing; Rural Areas Turn Against Coalition; Unexpected Result Stuns Victoria

Sep 18, 1999

The Kennett coalition government is struggling to survive a large swing against it as counting continues in today’s election.

At 9pm tonight, it was not clear that the Government would even secure a majority in the lower house. The government may be forced to rely on independents to retain government.

The ALP has won the following seats from the coalition: Oakleigh, Narracan, Ballarat East, Ballarat West, Ripon, Tullamarine and Gisborne. The loss of Gisborne by the government is a major blow, since Health Minister Rob Knowles was tipped as the next deputy leader.

The election may ultimately hinge on the result in Frankston East where the election has been declared invalid following the death of the sitting independent and former Liberal member, Peter McClellan.

The ALP is also expected to win Seymour from the Liberals.

In Geelong, the ALP is likely to regain the seat from Housing Minister Ann Henderson.

The ALP appears likely to retain Mitcham, a seat it won at a by-election in 1997.

The overall election result could also hinge on the result in Gippsland East, where it is possible that an independent will win the seat from the National Party.

Filed Under: 1999 Victoria, VIC Tagged With: , ,

Auditing The Backbones

Nov 18, 1997

The Victorian Liberal Party’s Parliamentary wing wimped it again today. The bloated backbench failed yet again to stand up to the Kennett government’s moves to butcher the office of the Auditor-General. Once more, the brave boys and girls bowed down in a terrible conflict of fear and ambition. Reports of a party-room revolt have clearly been greatly exaggerated.

Of course, the brave Roger Pescott resigned from Parliament last week, citing the changes to the Auditor-General’s office and the leadership style of the Premier as reasons. Roger had been a very public and vocal critic of the moves, hadn’t he? Roger had spent months working within the party to change the legislation, hadn’t he? Roger is a man of great political principle, isn’t he?

Roger Pescott was first elected to Parliament in 1985, having defeated Labor’s Doug Newton in the Mount Waverley-based seat of Bennettswood. Within two years, he came within one vote of defeating Kennett for the Liberal leadership, losing by 24 votes to 23. In the internecine and byzantine world of Liberal Party politics, a world where political debate and philosophical discussion is secondary to settling old scores, Roger went on to trounce Kennett and become Deputy Leader to the hapless Alan Brown in 1989. He returned to the fold in a deft bit of political footwork in 1991 that helped return Kennett to the leadership. He served without distinction in a minor portfolio between 1992 and 1996. According to newspaper reports, he wrote to Kennett indicating he no longer wished to serve in the ministry. It was a classic case of jumping before he was pushed.

Since then, Roger hasn’t been heard of until he resigned in a blaze of inglory last week. Principle? Don’t make me laugh. Whilst some wilder reports in the popular media suggested other Libs might follow him, this has not happened. And Peter McLellan, the Liberal member for Frankston, failed to get a seconder for a motion he proposed in the party room. You can just see the other 70 or so members of the party room sitting on their hands as one of their number made a feeble attempt to preserve the essential checks and balances built into our political system.

Why are they like this?

Like any State Parliamentary backbench, this one contains more than its fair share of lightweights and losers, all the more so because so many of them were elected in the anti-Kirner landslide of 1992 and then re-elected in 1996. The smell of a parliamentary pension must be wafting persuasively across the nostrils of these political nothings. “Just one more term”, they’re thinking to themselves. So why stand up to Kennett?

And then there’s the fear. You can almost see it in their eyes when the television camera pans around the Legislative Assembly during Question Time. They sit there, a mixture of Liberal born-to-rule arrogance and fearful trepidation as their leader swaggers around the chamber. This is the Jeff Kennett who reportedly bawled out a backbencher who was late to a party-room meeting.

No, they won’t stand up to him. Worse, many of them even agree with the man. Afterall, these are the backbenchers who sat by while their government decimated the state’s schools, ran down the hospitals, sold off the public’s utility assets, turned the Central Business District into a giant advertisement for the Crown Casino, disposed of thousands of public servants, presided over a dangerously degraded ambulance system and systematically set about undermining the democratic safeguards built up over many decades.

Whether it’s the Accident Compensation court, Equal Opportunity Commissioner Moira Rayner, the Auditor-General, or the gagging of government school teachers, this has been a government unlike any Liberal government in our history. It’s a government not in the liberal tradition of a Dick Hamer, or even the development tradition of a Henry Bolte. Rather, this is a government that elevates the bottom line to the status of holy writ and which cheerfully disregards the social responsibility of government.

With control of both houses of parliament, Kennett proceeds almost unchecked. The Mitcham by-election notwithstanding, don’t expect it to change in the near future, not if the spinelessness exhibited today is anything to go by.

Filed Under: Liberal Party, Opinion, VIC Tagged With: ,

Kennett-Peacock Car Phone Conversation

Mar 23, 1987

Long before mobile phones became the ubiquitous accessory of the 21st century, a famous conversation took place between the then Leader of the Opposition in Victoria, Jeff Kennett, and his close friend, the former and future Federal Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Peacock.

The Victorian Liberals had performed well in a by-election on the evening of Saturday March 23, 1987. On his way home by car, Kennett rang Peacock. The call was intercepted by a man with a scanner. The conversation found its way onto the front pages of the newspapers and the Leader of the Opposition, John Howard, sacked Peacock from the shadow ministry. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio1987, Howard Government, Liberal Party Tagged With: , , , ,