The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for election at the time the writs were issued, however the election in the district of Narracan was deferred due to the death of a candidate.
Despite a reduction in their primary and two-party-preferred vote, Labor was re-elected in a second consecutive landslide, winning 56 seats in the 88-seat Legislative Assembly, a net increase of one seat from the previous election in 2018. This was the sixth time that a Labor government was re-elected in Victoria, and it was Victorian Labor's second-best seat count at a state election, bested only by their result in the 2002 election. The Liberal/National Coalition made a net gain of one seat for an overall total of 28 seats: the Liberal Party won 19 seats, a net decrease of two from the previous election, while the Nationals won 9 seats, a net increase of three. The Greens won 4 seats, a net increase of one seat. All incumbent independents failed to retain their seats.
In the Legislative Council, Labor won 15 seats, six short of a majority, and the Coalition won 14 seats. On the crossbench, the Greens won 4 seats, Legalise Cannabis won 2 seats, and one seat each was won by Animal Justice, One Nation, Democratic Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers.
Following the election, on 5 December 2022, the Third Andrews ministry was sworn in by the Governor. The new government was little-changed following a significant reshuffle earlier in 2022. The following week the Liberal Party elected John Pesutto leader of the party and Opposition Leader in the new parliament, after Guy had earlier stepped down from the position.
The election in the district of Narracan was deferred to 28 January 2023 due to the death of the National Party candidate Shaun Gilchrist on 21 November, five days before the scheduled election. Labor and the National Party did not contest the supplementary election.
For the election (including the supplementary), Victoria had compulsory voting and used majoritarian preferential voting in single-member seats for the Legislative Assembly, and single transferable voting (STV) along with a group voting ticket (GVT) in multi-member seats for the proportionally represented Legislative Council. The Legislative Council had 40 members serving four-year terms, elected from eight electoral regions each with five members. With each region electing 5 members, the quota in each region for election, after distribution of preferences, was 16.7% (one-sixth) of the valid votes cast in that district.
The election was conducted by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), an independent body answerable to parliament.
Background Date Pursuant to the Electoral Act 2002, Victoria has fixed terms, with all elections since the 2006 election held every four years on the last Saturday of November. This means that the date for the election was set for 26 November 2022. This could change only if Parliament had been dissolved unexpectedly beforehand.
Previous election and parliament
The Daniel Andrews-led Labor government was returned to power after one term in opposition by winning a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly at the 2014 state election. The Labor party was decisively re-elected at the 2018 state election with a 5.3% two-party preferred swing, winning 55 seats in the Assembly. This was equal to Victorian Labor's second-best seat count ever at a state election. The Liberal/National Coalition dropped to 27 seats, the Greens won 3 seats and independents won the remaining 3 seats. There were no by-elections for the Assembly in the 59th parliament and the Assembly's composition was otherwise unchanged.
In the Legislative Council, the Labor party won 18 of the 40 seats, the Coalition 11 and the remaining seats were won by an array of minor parties. During the term, two Labor MLC's were either expelled or resigned from the party to sit as independents; (Adem Somyurek in June 2020 and Kaushaliya Vaghela in March 2022) while one Liberal MLC (Bernie Finn) was expelled from the party and joined the Democratic Labour Party in June 2022. This left the government with 16 seats in the Legislative Council, and opposition with 10, by the time of the election.
Daniel Andrews and the Labor government were seeking a third four-year term, something only John Cain Jr and Steve Bracks have previously achieved for Labor. Opposition Leader Matthew Guy stood down as Liberal leader several days after the party's poor result at the 2018 election and was replaced by Michael O'Brien. O'Brien's leadership was challenged twice in 2021, the second time resulting in O'Brien being replaced by Guy in a party room vote and Guy returning to the position.
Electoral system Victorian state elections are conducted by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC). Though Victoria has compulsory voting, at the 2018 election the voter turnout was just over 90%. Victoria uses instant-runoff voting in single-member seats for the Legislative Assembly, and single transferable vote in multi-member seats for the partially proportionally represented Legislative Council. The Legislative Council presently has 40 members serving four-year terms, elected from eight electoral regions each with five members. With each region electing 5 members, the quota in each region for election, after distribution of preferences, is 16.7% (one-sixth plus 1). Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Australia, at a state or federal level, that retains group voting tickets for the election of its upper house, resulting in preferences of voters voting "above-the-line" being transferred by inter-party agreements. Western Australia, the only other state to employ the system, abolished group voting tickets after the 2021 state election.
Redistribution
The Electoral Boundaries Commission (EBC) of the Victorian Electoral Commission conducted a redistribution of electoral boundaries as there had been two general elections since the last redistribution. The previous redistribution took place prior to the 2014 election, and the new one was conducted in October 2021. According to commentators, Victoria's "booming population" would see new districts created in outer-suburban and inner-city areas, at the expense of middle-suburban areas. At the 2018 election the voter enrollment in individual districts ranged from 61,814 in Cranbourne to 38,937 in Mount Waverley.
On 30 June 2021, the EBC released draft boundaries for the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the 2022 election. The draft boundaries saw the creation of new electorates and the abolition of current ones. The EBC's final report was released on 28 October 2021.
+ Changes to electorates of the Legislative Assembly Electorates abolished Electorates created Altona Point Cook Buninyong Eureka Burwood Ashwood Ferntree Gully abolished Forest Hill Glen Waverley Mount Waverley Gembrook Berwick Pakenham Keysborough abolished new seat Laverton Yuroke Greenvale Kalkallo
Registered parties
There were 23 parties registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) on 31 October 2022:
Animal Justice Party Australian Values Party Australian Greens Australian Labor Party Companions and Pets Party Democratic Labour Party Derryn Hinch's Justice Party Family First Victoria Freedom Party of Victoria Health Australia Party Legalise Cannabis Liberal Democratic Party Liberal Party National Party New Democrats Pauline Hanson's One Nation Reason Party Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews Party Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Sustainable Australia Party Transport Matters Party United Australia Party Victorian Socialists
A further 5 applications to register were rejected by the VEC by parties that failed to meet the statutory threshold of 500 registered members: the Australian Democrats, Australian Federation, Fusion, Independence and Indigenous-Aboriginal parties.
In addition, three parties sought to register but later withdrew. Family First Victoria, unrelated to the party of the same name that contested the 2022 South Australian state election, announced it would withdraw its registration on 12 August. On 13 August, the Victorians Party—which had been formally registered by the VEC and had announced a series of candidates―announced it would not contest the election and was later deregistered by the VEC. On 29 September, the Legalise Marijuana Party confirmed it would withdraw after its application was challenged by the Legalise Cannabis Party.
Eight unregistered parties opted to endorse at least one independent candidate:
Aligned Australia Australia One Child Protection Party Fusion Indigenous-Aboriginal Party Public Interests Before Corporate Interests Socialist Alliance United People's Party
Candidates and retiring MPs
A record 740 candidates nominated to contest the 88 Legislative Assembly seats at the Victorian election on 26 November, well up on the previous record of 543 candidates in 2014 and the 507 in 2018. The 454 candidates for the Legislative Council is the highest number of upper house candidates in a Victorian election, up from 380 in 2018.
The following members announced that they were not contesting the 2022 election:
Labor Luke Donnellan MLA (Narre Warren North) – lost preselection 13 December 2021 Nazih Elasmar MLC (Northern Metropolitan) John Eren MLA (Lara) – announced 26 November 2021 Martin Foley MLA (Albert Park) – announced 23 June 2022 Mark Gepp MLC (Northern Victoria) – announced 2 December 2021 Danielle Green MLA (Yan Yean) – announced 24 November 2021 Dustin Halse MLA (Ringwood) – announced 24 November 2021 Jill Hennessy MLA (Altona) – announced 24 November 2021 Marlene Kairouz MLA (Kororoit) – lost preselection 13 December 2021 Frank McGuire MLA (Broadmeadows) – lost preselection 13 December 2021 James Merlino MLA (Monbulk) – announced 23 June 2022 Lisa Neville MLA (Bellarine) – announced 23 June 2022 Martin Pakula MLA (Keysborough) – announced 23 June 2022 Jaala Pulford MLC (Western Victoria) – announced 28 October 2022 Robin Scott MLA (Preston) – lost preselection 13 December 2021 Richard Wynne MLA (Richmond) – announced 25 November 2021
Liberal Bruce Atkinson MLC (Eastern Metropolitan) – announced 9 June 2022 Gary Blackwood MLA (Narracan) – announced 9 November 2021 Neale Burgess MLA (Hastings) – announced 11 November 2021 Cathrine Burnett-Wake MLC (Eastern Victoria) – lost preselection 31 July 2022 David Morris MLA (Mornington) – lost preselection 10 December 2021 Gordon Rich-Phillips MLC (South Eastern Metropolitan) – announced 17 June 2022 Tim Smith MLA (Kew) – announced 7 November 2021
National Steph Ryan MLA (Euroa) – announced 5 July 2022
Independent Russell Northe MLA (Morwell) – announced 26 July 2022
Campaign and controversies