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THE POLL BLUDGER CASEY
Casey covers Melbourne's eastern outskirts, from Lilydale east to Seville and Coldstream south to Silvan. It was created in 1969 and won for the Liberals by Peter Howson, previously member for the abolished inner urban electorate of Fawkner since 1951. Howson lost the seat to Labor candidate Race Mathews with the election of the Whitlam government in 1972; Mathews was in turn defeated by Liberal candidate Peter Falconer in 1975, and went on to enter state politics in 1979 as the member for Oakleigh. Casey has since been won by Labor only with the election of the Hawke government in 1983, returning to the Liberal fold with Robert Halverson's redistribution-assisted win in 1984. Halverson's retirement in 1998 made the seat available as a safe haven for Health Minister Michael Wooldridge, whose position in Chisholm had been weakened by a redistribution in 1996. Wooldridge quit politics at the 2001 election and was succeeded as member by Tony Smith, a political ally and former staffer of Peter Costello. | |