[6] His failure to rise above the middle band academically almost led him to quit school in Fourth Form (Year 10 – 1963), but he was persuaded to stay on.

[7] After leaving school, Kennett was persuaded by his father Ken to attend the Australian National University in Canberra, but lost interest and left after one year of an economics degree.

[9] Kennett was singled out as 'officer material' early in his career, and graduated third in his class from the Officer Training Unit, Scheyville (OTU), near Windsor, New South Wales, outside Sydney.

[10] This military career (and his earlier experience in the Scotch College Cadet Corps) has been noted by many biographers as an essential formative influence on the adult Kennett's character.

Having returned to Myer, Kennett became impatient with his work, and so with Ian Fegan and Eran Nicols, he formed his own advertising company (KNF) in June 1971.

Kennett was elected as a Liberal Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Burwood in 1976, having had an interest in local politics since the early 1970s.

[14] His preselection for the seat reportedly irritated then Premier Dick Hamer, who disliked Kennett's campaigning style, and had endorsed the sitting member, Haddon Storey.

[17] The car-phone conversation damaged both Howard and Kennett politically,[18] but aided Peacock in his push to return as Federal Liberal leader (1989).

Economou sees his 1985 and 1988 election campaigns as weak,[16] while Parkinson believes he was a significant asset in pushing the Labor government of John Cain in several key seats.

Cain had resigned a year earlier in favour of Deputy Premier Joan Kirner, who was unable to regain the upper hand despite being personally more popular than Kennett.

[22] In the wake of these changes, investment and population growth slowly resumed, though unemployment was to remain above the national average for the duration of Kennett's premiership.

[citation needed] In the mid-1990s, Premier Kennett backed the Greek position over the Macedonian question[32] in his attempts to shore up local electoral support.

[40] The government lost ground over the next few years, with high-profile disagreements with the Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Bongiorno, and Auditor-General Ches Baragwanath fuelling criticism of Kennett's governmental style.

Further scandals involving the handling of contracts for the state emergency services response system damaged the credibility of Kennett in 1997–1998, while rural dissent continued to grow.

Bracks, who came from Ballarat, was popular in rural areas and was seen as a fresh alternative to Brumby, who nevertheless remained a key figure in the shadow Cabinet.

Despite Bracks' appeal, Kennett entered the 1999 election campaign with a seemingly unassailable lead, and most commentators and opinion polls agreed that the Coalition would win a third term.

While there was only a modest swing in eastern Melbourne, which has historically decided elections in Victoria, the Coalition suffered significant losses in regional centres such as Ballarat and Bendigo.

"[42] Initial counting showed Labor on 41 seats and the Coalition on 43; a supplementary election had to be held in Frankston East following the death of sitting independent Peter McLellan.

The agreement entailed Labor signing a Charter of Good Government, pledging to restore services to rural areas, and promising parliamentary reforms.

His stance was supported by Prime Minister John Howard, who rated him as the party's best hope to win the November 2006 state election.

[47] In 2000, Kennett became the inaugural chairman of beyondblue (the National Depression Initiative), a body that was largely formed by the efforts of the Victorian State Government.

[50] Kennett has previously served on the boards of Australian Seniors Finance,[51] a reverse mortgage company, and SelecTV, which was a satellite television group.

Kennett has said in an interview that he rarely thinks about the media or "bloody history", though he regrets the "disastrous" introduction of the Metcard ticketing system for trains and trams.

[52] Kennett angered gay rights groups in July 2008 when he supported the Bonnie Doon Football Club in their sacking of trainer Ken Campagnolo for being bisexual; and compared homosexuality to pedophilia.

The sponsorship deal was worth an estimated $12 million for which the Tasmanian government bought naming rights to the club's guernsey, and the HFC committed to playing an agreed number of pre-season and four regular season "home games" at York Park.

[56] Kennett was instrumental in Hawthorn's 2007 5-year business plan titled "five2fifty", the core idea being that in the next five years the club will target to win 2 premierships and have fifty thousand members.

"[62]On 6 July 2021, Kennett and the Hawthorn board announced that they would not be renewing head coach Alastair Clarkson's contract following its expiry at the conclusion of the 2022 AFL Premiership season.

The honour was for "service to the Victorian Parliament and the introduction of initiatives for economic and social benefit, to business and commerce, and to the community in the development of the arts, sport and mental health awareness strategies.

[67] On 28 March 2013 it was announced that Kennett had joined the Seven television network as national political commentator which will involve him appearing on breakfast show Sunrise every Tuesday and on Seven news as required.

[68] On 12 February 2017 Jeff Kennett engaged ex-Seven West Media employee on Twitter over leaked documents potentially breaching the company's own gag order on Amber Harrison.