On 23 May 1989,
Jeff Kennett was voted out of the Liberal leadership in favour of
Alan Brown; Brown led the party until 23 April 1991 when he was also forced out after a successful comeback by Kennett. During Brown's period as Opposition Leader, the Liberals negotiated the first coalition agreement with the
Nationals in over forty years, in part due to a belief by some (in spite of what political scientist
Brian Costar called a "lack of psephological evidence to support this assertion") that had the parties been in coalition at the election, they would have won. ==References==