THE POLL BLUDGER
House of Representatives Election 2007

GREY
Liberal 13.8%

Grey has covered most of the vast South Australian land mass since federation, apart from a period between 1934 and 1951 when the interior was divided between Grey and Wakefield. With population growth maintaining its long-term failure to keep pace, the redistribution before the 2004 election saw it absorb the entirety of the Yorke Peninsula from a radically redrawn Wakefield, although this did not affect the margin. Despite the strength of its current Liberal margin, the seat was held for Labor for all but one term between 1943 and 1993. Barry Wakelin won it for the Liberals in 1993 when the retirement of Labor member Lloyd O'Neil coincided with a redistribution that gave the Liberals a 4.3 per cent boost, adding Port Pirie and Clare. Wakelin enjoyed swings of 6.4 per cent in 1996, 1.9 per cent in 2001 and 3.2 per cent in 2004, with only a 0.5 per cent swing going the other way in 1998. He is now retiring, and the Liberals have nominated Eyre Peninsula farmer Rowan Ramsey.

Remarkably, Phillip Coorey of the Sydney Morning Herald reported on September 24 that Liberal polling showed Grey would be lost unless Wakelin could be persuaded to stay on. It was further reported he had briefly agreed to do so before changing his mind again, with Ramsey urged to smooth the path by stepping aside.