THE POLL BLUDGER
House of Representatives Election 2007

LALOR
Labor 8.6%

StateVictoria
RegionOuter South-Western Melbourne
CandidatesPeter Curtis (Liberal)
Steve Gleeson (Family First)
Libby Krepp (DLP)
Jay Tilley (Greens)
Roger Howe (Democrats)
Julia Gillard (Labor)

Lalor covers the outer western Melbourne centres of Sunbury, Melton, Werribee and Point Cook on the bay. It originally extended far beyond the metropolitan area to Seymour and Kyneton in the north, which considerably dampened Labor's margins, although it fell to the Liberals only in 1966. A redistribution then made it safe for Labor by replacing the rural and semi-rural areas with Laverton in Melbourne's west. It thereby provided a refuge for Jim Cairns, whose inner-east Melbourne electorate of Yarra had been abolished, and has since provided a comfortable home for Barry Jones from 1977 and Julia Gillard since 1998.