|
THE POLL BLUDGER CAPRICORNIA
Capricornia has existed since federation, Rockhampton being its constant as boundaries shifted over the years. A mixture of farming and coal mining communities, the seat has traditionally leaned towards Labor, whose only defeats after 1961 came with the demise of the Whitlam and Keating governments in 1975 and 1996 (the margin on the former occasion being 136 votes). The baseball bat having been wielded, Kirsten Livermore recovered the seat for Labor in 1998 with a thumping 8.8 per cent swing. Relative population decline in this area has prompted substantial changes at the last two redistributions, the most recent adding 14,000 voters just outside Mackay and removing Fitzroy and Mount Morgan to provide Labor's best area in the new seat of Flynn. The effect has been to cut the Labor margin from 5.1 per cent to 3.8 per cent. | |