Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “vic1999”

Victoria: State Of The Parties 1996-2002

This table shows the state of the parties in the Victorian parliament between 1996 and 2002.

The Kennett-led Coalition government won its second term in 1996. In 1999, Steve Bracks became Premier of a minority Labor government. In 2002, Bracks won the largest majority in the history of the Victorian parliament.

Victorian Parliament
Party Leg
Assembly
1996
Leg
Council
1996
Leg
Assembly
1999
Leg
Council
1999
Leg
Assembly
2002
Leg
Council
2002
ALP
29
10
42 43 44
14
62
25
Liberal
48
28
36 35
24
17
15
National
9
6
7 6
6
7
4
Independent
2
3
2
Total
88
44
88
44
88
44
Current: Majority Labor Government, first elected 1999
Premier: Steve Bracks

 

McNamara Announces Retirement; Perilous By-Election In Benalla

Pat McNamara, former Victorian National Party leaderThe Victorian coalition parties face a perilous by-election in Benalla in the new year following the decision of Pat McNamara to retire from Parliament.

McNamara resigned today as leader of the National Party and was replaced by Peter Ryan. Ryan was elected unanimously. The MLA for Swan Hill, Barry Steggall, is his new deputy.

The expected by-election follows last weekend’s 10% swing to the ALP which delivered the Bracks government Burwood, the seat of former Premier Jeff Kennett.

McNamara won Benalla last September in a two-candidate contest, securing 57.41% of the vote.

There are 46 polling booths in Benalla, many of them small in numbers. Last September, McNamara won all but 3 – Eildon, Jamieson and Wandiligong – and these were won only narrowly by the ALP candidate, Denise Allen.

By contrast, at the 1996 election, McNamara secured 58.86% of the primary vote against 4 other candidates, including independent Bill Hill who has announced he will contest the forthcoming by-election. Hill won 15.36% of the primary vote in 1996.

Given the strong showing for independents in other rural seats in this year’s election, the National Party has good cause to be concerned about its capacity to retain Benalla, but Labor and independent candidates will have no illusions about their prospects in this traditional conservative electorate.

Victorian Liberals Plot To Remove Poggioli and Howley

Victorian Liberals stunned by yesterday’s loss of the blue-ribbon seat of Burwood are planning a move against State Director Peter Poggioli and Party President Joy Howley.

A source close to the party hierarchy at 104 Exhibition Street has told VCEpolitics.com that senior Liberals are furious over the result of the September 18 election, the Frankston East by-election, and now the Burwood by-election.

A senior member of the Liberal Party’s private polling team has already been dispatched to work for South Australian Premier, John Olsen, in an attempt to find a scapegoat for the recent poor performance of the party machine.

Many senior Liberals are appalled at the choice of Lana McLean over Helen Kroger in the Burwood preselection. Prominent senior Liberals such as former State President Ted Bailleau backed the ex-wife of former state president Michael Kroger, but McLean was a surprise winner at the preselection convention. McLean’s campaign never got off the ground due to a series of allegations about her personal affairs.

A.L.P. Wins Burwood By-Election With 10% Swing

8.30pmIn one last final nail in the coffin of the Kennett era, the Labor Party’s Bob Stensholt has won the former Premier’s seat of Burwood in today’s by-election.

Bob Stensholt, ALP Member for BurwoodWith counting proceeding, the ALP appears to have secured around 55% of the two-party-preferred vote, and has won 10 of the 13 booths in the electorate.

Jeff Kennett held the seat for the Liberals continuously since its formation in 1976. Following his defeat in the September 18 State election, Kennett resigned from the seat on the day the new Parliament was opened.

The result is an important boost to the ALP, giving it 43 seats to 42 for the Opposition. Whilst the government still needs to rely on the support of at least 2 of the 3 independents, the extra seat will make management of the Legislative Assembly slightly easier, as well as giving the government the absolute majority of 45 votes that it needs to pass constitutional change.

The result partly illustrates the “honeymoon” period being experienced by the Premier, Steve Bracks, but is also a disaster for new Liberal leader, Denis Napthine.

The Liberal candidate, Lana McLean, was dogged by controversy throughout the campaign. After winning preselection against the party machine’s preferred candidate, Helen Kroger, Mrs. McLean was accused in Parliament of making a false statutory declaration in a dispute with a neighbour over a driveway. It was revealed she had also lobbied the then Planning Minister, Rob Maclellan. Later, there were revelations about a dispute with the Commonwealth Bank and reports that she had been ejected from an underage sporting event for using the “f word”, presumably “fuck”, to an umpire.

The Labor candidate, Bob Stensholt, a Monash University academic, was also under attack for spelling mistakes in his election literature: “tought” for “taught”, “elecion” for “election”, etc. He was also accused of hiding his time spent training for the priesthood in the 1970s.

Watch Bob Stensholt’s campaign video distributed throughout the electorate (5m)

AustralianPolitics.com
Malcolm Farnsworth
© 1995-2023