The election of John Cain’s government 30 years ago in April 1982 broke Labor’s 27 year electoral drought in Victoria, but the party’s elevation to the treasury benches brought with it a decade of trials and tribulations for a party intent on enacting its social and economic policy agenda. Only limited academic literature exists on this period of governance in Australia’s second most populous state. This article seeks to address this deficiency by analysing the inhibiters to executive government in the bicameral Victorian parliament by its second chamber, and by examining other impediments which confronted the governments of Cain and Joan Kirner between 1982 and 1992.