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THE POLL BLUDGER BANKS
Banks is located on the outer edge of Labor's inner city Sydney heartland, bordering the outer suburban ring of seats that have delivered the Liberals crucial victories since the Howard government came to power. Suburbs nearer the city including Riverwood and Padstow have kept it in Labor's hands, but the party's dominance is softened by the waterside suburbs along the Georges River which forms the electorate's southern border. Antony Green notes it has “a higher than average proportion of older Anglo-Celtic Australians, and lacks the complex ethnic mix of neighbouring electorates like Blaxland”. Labor has held the seat at all times since its creation in 1949, their closest shave prior to 1996 being a 3.1 per cent win in 1975. The defeat of the Keating government produced a 9.1 per cent swing that cut the margin to 1.4 per cent, and it again swung to the Liberals in 2001 (4.4 per cent) and 2004 (1.8 per cent), the latter result pushing it deep into the marginal zone. However, Labor's member since 1990, Daryl Melham, has been done a good turn by a redistribution that adds part of Bankstown in the north from Blaxland while moving Punchbowl to Watson in the east, adding 2.2 per cent to the margin. | |