THE POLL BLUDGER
House of Representatives Election 2007

CORIO
Labor 5.5%

Geelong has formed the basis of the electorate of Corio since it was created at federation. The Eden-Monaro of its day, Corio changed hands along with government in 1910 (to Labor), 1913 (to Liberal), 1914 (to Labor), 1917 (to the Nationalists), 1929 (to Labor) and 1931 (to the United Australia Party). It fell to Labor ahead of schedule at a 1940 by-election that followed Richard Casey's appointment as ambassador to the United States (he would return to parliament in 1949 as member for La Trobe), an outcome that played a crucial role in Menzies' defeat on the floor of parliament the following year. Cycling hero Hubert Opperman recovered the seat for the Liberals with the 1949 election win, eventually serving as Immigration Minister before taking up a diplomatic post in 1967. Bob Hawke unsuccessfully contested the seat for Labor in 1963, and newly arrived Labor leader Gough Whitlam encouraged him to do so again when Opperman departed. Hawke preferred to pursue his designs on the ACTU presidency at that time, and the by-election was won for Labor by engine driver Gordon Scholes in an early success for Whitlam. Scholes consolidated his hold over time (surviving by just 20 votes in 1975), and the seat had become quite safe for Labor by the time he retired in 1993. His successor was Gavan O'Connor, who rose to the front bench in 1998 but became increasingly imperilled as local Labor branches fell under the control of the Right. This enabled ACTU assistant secretary Richard Marles to unseat him at a preselection vote held in March 2006. O’Connor raised eyebrows in September when declined to farewell parliament during his presumed valedictory speech. Mark Davis of the Sydney Morning Herald spoke of “a frisson of anxiety in Kevin Rudd's office” at the thought of O'Connor standing against Marles as an independent.

O'Connor has indeed come good on his implied threat to run as an independent, making his announcement late in the first week of the campaign. In a huge free kick to the government, O'Connor complained that Rudd told him he did not have the power to prevent Marles's union backers from rolling him – though given Rudd wasn't leader at the time, there would have been little reason to expect otherwise. Shortly after O’Connor's announcement, Labor promised to add $45 million to its existing funding plans for the Geelong Ring Road. Meanwhile, Liberal candidate Angelo Kakouros made the news after he allegedly told the Geelong Advertiser that “union bosses dictate similar to the way Hitler did during the world war about how we should live our life” (though he claims he was misquoted).