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THE POLL BLUDGER BARTON
Barton has covered Kogarah and surrounding areas on the north shore of the Georges River since its creation in 1922. It currently extends north to Rockdale and Wolli Creek and west to Oatley, the redistribution adding a small area at Bexley from Watson (increasing the Labor margin by 0.2 per cent). Past members include Herbert "Doc"Evatt, who won the seat from the United Australia Party in 1940 and held it until 1958, when he moved to Hunter after close shaves in 1951 (when he came within 243 votes of defeat by World War II hero Nancy Wake, running for the Liberals) and 1955 (when he prevailed by 226 votes). The seat nonetheless stayed with Labor until the 1966 disaster, subsequently changing hands along with government in 1975 and 1983. After some close calls in the 1980s, Labor's Gary Punch put enough fat on the margin in 1993 that his successor Robert McClelland survived the 1996 landslide, later emerging as a senior front-bencher who currently holds the shadow foreign affairs portfolio. | |