THE POLL BLUDGER
House of Representatives Election 2007

BRAND
Labor 4.7%

Brand covers the coastal strip south of Perth taking in the industrial zone around Kwinana, the outer metropolitan centre of Rockingham and the satellite town of Mandurah. It has been held by Labor since its creation in 1984 and provided an escape hatch for Kim Beazley in 1996 after he had endured one close scrape too many as member for Swan. His troubles did not end there, as his debut in Brand saw him hold on by 387 votes, with Labor spending the week after its shattering defeat unsure if he would be available to assume the leadership. When Pauline Hanson reached her zenith in the lead-up to the 1998 election, some had the idea that the seat could fall to One Nation on account of their unusually articulate candidate, Lee Dawson. He polled 11.9 per cent and directed his preferences to the Liberals, but couldn't prevent Beazley from riding an 11.1 per cent swing to his first comfortable win since 1987. Beazley announced his retirement when Kevin Rudd toppled him as leader last December, and the Labor nomination now passes to Gary Gray, Labor's national president at the 1996 and 1998 elections and later an executive with mining company Woodside.

On September 24, Paige Taylor of The Australian reported that Labor internal polling showed them set to double their margin in Brand, in contrast to other suggestions the party was doing relatively poorly in Western Australia.