|
THE POLL BLUDGER GILMORE
Gilmore covers the south coast of New South Wales from Kiama through Nowra and Ulladulla to Batemans Bay, the latter of which has been added by the redistribution from Eden-Monaro. A countervailing transfer in the north moves Moss Vale to Hume, contributing to a small 0.6 per cent shift in Labor's favour. The seat was created in 1984, when it extended deep inland through Goulburn to strong Nationals territory around Young and Cowra. John Sharp held the seat for the Nationals until 1993, when the interior area was transferred to Hume in exchange for the southern Illawarra area of Kiama. This prompted Sharp to instead contest Hume, and Labor's Peter Knott was able to narrowly gain Gilmore with a 1.1 per cent. Joanna Gash gained the seat for the Liberals in 1996 with a 6.7 per cent swing and limited the counter-swing to 2.2 per cent in 1998, before scoring the biggest swing in the country (10.1 per cent) when Knott attempted a comeback in 2001. This was reckoned to have had something to do with Knott's campaign assessment that the United States' foreign policy had “come back to bite them” as smoke still rose from the rubble of the World Trade Centre. Further evidence for this was provided by the 4.6 per cent correction in Labor's favour in 2004. | |