1976 Victorian state election

The 1976 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 20 March 1976, was for the 47th Parliament of Victoria. It was held in the Australian state of Victoria to elect 81 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council. Since the previous election, there was an increase in the number of members of the Legislative Assembly by 8 and in the number of Council members by 8, though only 4 were elected at the 1976 election.

1976 Victorian state election

20 March 1976 (1976-03-20)
All 81 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
First party Second party Third party   Leader Rupert Hamer Clyde Holding Peter Ross-Edwards Party Liberal Labor National Leader since 23 August 1972 15 May 1967 1970 Leader's seat Kew Richmond Shepparton Last election 46 seats 18 seats 8 seats Seats won 52 seats 21 seats 7 seats Seat change 6 3 1 Percentage 45.87% 42.43% 7.07% Swing 3.53 0.82 1.13
Premier before election Rupert Hamer Liberal Elected Premier Rupert Hamer Liberal

Since the last election, the number of Legislative Assembly members was increased from 73 to 81 and the number of seats in the Legislative Council was increased from 36 to 44.

The incumbent Liberal government led by Rupert Hamer was returned with an increased majority.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Victorian state election, 20 March 1976[1] Legislative Assembly << 1973–1979 >>
Enrolled voters		2,267,282
Votes cast		2,101,414		Turnout	92.68	-0.86
Informal votes		53,417		Informal	2.54	-0.36
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal	939,481	45.87	+3.53	52	+6
	Labor	869,021	42.43	+0.82	21	+3
	National	144,818	7.07	+1.13	7	-1
	Democratic Labor	52,765	2.58	-5.22	0	±0
	Independent	35,408	1.73	+1.18	1	±0
	Australia	3,430	0.17	-1.45	0	±0
	Workers	3,074	0.15	+0.15	0	±0
Total		2,047,997			81
Two-party-preferred
	Liberal	1,142,262	55.8	+0.6
	Labor	905,735	44.2	–0.6

Legislative Council

Victorian state election, 20 March 1976[2] Legislative Council << 1973–1979 >>
Enrolled voters		2,267,282
Votes cast		2,102,674		Turnout	92.7	–0.8
Informal votes		65,997		Informal	3.1	+0.7
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Liberal	988,681	48.3	+5.2	15	26
	Labor	872,076	42.6	+1.8	5	9
	National	160,708	7.9	+1.5	2	5
	Democratic Labor	12,601	0.6	–8.1	0	0
	Australia	2,611	0.1	–0.9	0	0
	Independent	10,127	0.5	*	0	0
Total		2,046,804			22	40

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1976				Swing	Post-1976
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Benambra		National	Tom Mitchell	19.9	-21.7	1.8	Lou Lieberman	Liberal
Knox		Liberal	notional - new seat	0.8	-2.1	1.3	Steve Crabb	Labor
Ripon		Labor	notional - new seat	0.4	-10.3	9.9	Tom Austin	Liberal
Werribee		Labor	notional - new seat	0.2	-0.2	0.05	Neville Hudson	Liberal

Post-election pendulum

LIBERAL SEATS (52)
Marginal
Essendon	Kenneth Wheeler	LIB	0.05%
Werribee	Neville Hudson	LIB	0.05%
Oakleigh	Alan Scanlan	LIB	1.3%
Geelong East	Bruce Evans	LIB	1.5%
Benambra	Lou Lieberman	LIB	1.8% v NAT
Greensborough	Monte Vale	LIB	2.7%
Bendigo	Daryl McClure	LIB	3.6%
Ballarat South	Bill Stephen	LIB	4.1%
Springvale	Norman Billing	LIB	4.4%
Geelong West	Hayden Birrell	LIB	5.2%
Heatherton	Llew Reese	LIB	5.4%
Mitcham	George Cox	LIB	5.5%
Prahran	Sam Loxton	LIB	5.7%
Fairly safe
Noble Park	Peter Collins	LIB	6.1%
St Kilda	Brian Dixon	LIB	6.1%
Syndal	Geoff Coleman	LIB	6.1%
Monbulk	Bill Borthwick	LIB	6.6%
Sandringham	Max Crellin	LIB	7.4%
Glenhuntly	Joe Rafferty	LIB	8.1%
Ringwood	Peter McArthur	LIB	9.0%
Bentleigh	Bob Suggett	LIB	9.3%
Box Hill	Donald Mackinnon	LIB	9.6%
Evelyn	Jim Plowman	LIB	9.6%
Ripon	Tom Austin	LIB	9.9%
Safe
Bennettswood	Ian McLaren	LIB	10.1%
Narracan	Jim Balfour	LIB	10.2%
Swin Hill	Alan Wood	LIB	10.2% v NAT
Warrandyte	Norman Lacy	LIB	10.6%
Hawthorn	Walter Jona	LIB	10.7%
Midlands	Bill Ebery	LIB	10.7%
Mentone	Bill Templeton	LIB	10.9%
Ivanhoe	Bruce Skeggs	LIB	11.1%
Lowan	Jim McCabe	LIB	11.7% v NAT
Ballarat North	Tom Evans	LIB	11.9%
Frankston	Graeme Weideman	LIB	12.7%
Dromana	Roberts Dunstan	LIB	12.9%
South Barwon	Aurel Smith	LIB	13.0%
Forest Hill	John Richardson	LIB	13.1%
Gisborne	Athol Guy	LIB	14.2%
Burwood	Jeff Kennett	LIB	14.6%
Portland	Don McKellar	LIB	14.7%
Berwick	Rob Maclellan	LIB	15.1%
Warrnambool	Ian Smith	LIB	15.2%
Caulfield	Charles Francis	LIB	15.3%
Wantirna	Geoff Hayes	LIB	15.8%
Doncaster	Morris Williams	LIB	15.9%
Westernport	Doug Jennings	LIB	16.3%
Brighton	Jeannette Patrick	LIB	18.1%
Balwyn	Jim Ramsay	LIB	19.3%
Kew	Rupert Hamer	LIB	20.0%
Malvern	Lindsay Thompson	LIB	20.8%
Polwarth	Cec Burgin	LIB	26.6%

LABOR SEATS (21)
Marginal
Knox	Steve Crabb	ALP	1.3%
Niddrie	Jack Simpson	ALP	2.0%
Bundoora	John Cain	ALP	3.3%
Carrum	Ian Cathie	ALP	5.0%
Dandenong	Alan Lind	ALP	5.2%
Fairly safe
Glenroy	Jack Culpin	ALP	8.9%
Safe
Keilor	Jack Ginifer	ALP	10.2%
Geelong North	Neil Trezise	ALP	12.6%
Williamstown	Gordon Stirling	ALP	13.0%
Albert Park	Val Doube	ALP	13.1%
Broadmeadows	John Wilton	ALP	13.2%
Ascot Vale	Tom Edmunds	ALP	13.3%
Morwell	Derek Amos	ALP	13.6%
Reservoir	Jim Simmonds	ALP	14.1%
Northcote	Frank Wilkes	ALP	14.2%
Brunswick	Tom Roper	ALP	14.7%
Melbourne	Barry Jones	ALP	14.8%
Preston	Carl Kirkwood	ALP	15.8%
Footscray	Robert Fordham	ALP	21.6%
Sunshine	Bill Fogarty	ALP	21.6%
Richmond	Theo Sidiropoulos	ALP	23.3%
NATIONAL SEATS (7)
Gippsland South	Neil McInnes	NAT	1.3% v LIB
Benalla	Tom Trewin	NAT	20.1%
Gippsland East	Bruce Evans	NAT	20.7% v IND
Murray Valley	Ken Jasper	NAT	22.1%
Mildura	Milton Whiting	NAT	24.2%
Shepparton	Peter Ross-Edwards	NAT	27.7%
Rodney	Eddie Hann	NAT	33.1%
CROSSBENCH SEATS (1)
Coburg	Jack Mutton	IND	5.3% v ALP

See also

• Candidates of the Victorian state election, 1976

References

1. Election held on 20 March 1976, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).
2. Carr, Adam. "Victoria Legislative Council Election 1976". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 29 September 2015.