1979 Victorian state election

1979 Victoria state election
All 81 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly; 41 seats needed for a majority; and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
	Results in each electorate.
Premier before election; Rupert Hamer; Liberal	Elected Premier ; Rupert Hamer; Liberal

The 1979 Victoria state election, held on Saturday, 5 May 1979, was for the 48th 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.

The incumbent Liberal government led by Rupert Hamer was returned with a significantly reduced majority.

Results edit

Victorian state election, 5 May 1979^[1] Legislative Assembly << 1976–1982 >>
Enrolled voters		2,350,407
Votes cast		2,193,037		Turnout	93.30	0.62
Informal votes		66,016		Informal	3.01	0.47
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	962,123	45.23	+2.80	32	+11
	Liberal	881,366	41.44	-4.44	41	-11
	National	119,385	5.61	-1.46	8	+1
	Democrats	114,053	5.36	+5.36	0	±0
	Independent	30,102	1.42	-0.31	0	-1
	Democratic Labour	10,907	0.51	-2.06	0	±0
	Australia	5,222	0.25	+0.08	0	±0
	Communist	2,305	0.11	+0.11	0	±0
	Socialist Workers	1,558	0.07	+0.07	0	±0
Total		2,127,021			81
Two-party-preferred
	Liberal	1,073,415	50.5	–5.3
	Labor	1,053,606	49.5	+5.3

Victorian state election, 5 May 1979^[2] Legislative Council << 1976–1982 >>
Enrolled voters		2,350,407
Votes cast		2,191,128		Turnout	93.22	+0.03
Informal votes		77,361		Informal	3.53	+0.41
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Labor	958,158	45.33	+2.72	8	13
	Liberal	924,525	43.74	–4.56	12	27
	National	124,050	5.87	–1.98	2	4
	Democrats	60,392	2.86	+2.86	0	0
	Democratic Labour	3,212	0.15	–0.47	0	0
	Independent	43,430	2.05	+1.56	0	0
Total		2,113,767			22	44

Seat	Pre-1979				Swing	Post-1979
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Bentleigh		Liberal	Bob Suggett	9.3	-9.5	0.2	Gordon Hockley	Labor
Coburg		Independent	Jack Mutton	5.4	-6.6	1.2	Peter Gavin	Labor
Essendon		Liberal	Kenneth Wheeler	0.1	-1.6	1.5	Barry Rowe	Labor
Geelong East		Liberal	Phil Gude	1.5	-3.2	1.7	Graham Ernst	Labor
Glenhuntly		Liberal	Joe Rafferty	8.1	-9.7	1.6	Gerard Vaughan	Labor
Heatherton		Liberal	Llew Reese	5.4	-6.4	1.0	Peter Spyker	Labor
Lowan		Liberal	Jim McCabe	11.7	-12.2	0.5	Bill McGrath	National
Oakleigh		Liberal	Alan Scanlan	1.3	-3.0	1.7	Race Mathews	Labor
Prahran		Liberal	Sam Loxton	5.7	-6.6	0.9	Bob Miller	Labor
Springvale		Liberal	Norman Billing	4.4	-5.1	0.7	Kevin King	Labor
Werribee		Liberal	Neville Hudson	0.1	-8.2	8.1	Ken Coghill	Labor

Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
In addition, Labor retained the seat of Greensborough, which it had won from the Liberals in a by-election.

^ Election held on 5 May 1979, Australian Politics and Elections Database (University of Western Australia).
^ Carr, Adam. "Victoria Legislative Council Election 1979". Psephos Election Archive. Retrieved 29 September 2015.