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THE POLL BLUDGER HIGGINS
Covering the affluent Melbourne suburbs of Toorak, Prahran and Malvern, Higgins has been held by the Liberals since its creation in 1949. The inaugural member was Harold Holt, who had previously been member for Fawkner since 1935. Holt remained in the seat until his disappearance in December 1967, at which point it was used to parachute Senator John Gorton into the lower house so he could assume the prime ministership. Gorton stayed on for two elections after surrendering the position in March 1971, before indulging in a quixotic bid to win one of the new Australian Capital Territory Senate seats as an independent in 1975. Backbench-warmer Roger Shipton subsequently held the seat until 1990, becoming famous only in 1988 when he stood firm against maverick businessman John Elliott's designs on his seat. Shipton stared down Elliott only to lose preselection to Peter Costello, a young lawyer who had become the darling of the New Right after winning a six-figure compensation payout for confectioners Dollar Sweets from a union that had been tormenting it with industrial action. Costello was Shadow Attorney-General by the time of the March 1993 election and became deputy leader and Shadow Treasurer as part of the “dream team” with Alexander Downer in May 1994. He declined to throw his hat into the ring when Downer's leadership imploded within a year, smoothing the way for the triumphant return of John Howard. At no stage has he looked in trouble in Higgins, defying “doctors' wives” talk in 2004 to increase his primary vote by 2.2 per cent and his two-party vote 0.5 per cent. | |