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THE POLL BLUDGER PERTH
The Perth metropolitan area was divided unpredictably between Perth and Fremantle until the enlargement of parliament in 1949, when Curtin was created and Swan drawn into the metropolitan area. It has since covered a smaller area north of the river around the city, currently extending east to Bassendean and north to Morley and Beechboro. Labor held the seat from its creation until inaugural member James Fowler joined Billy Hughes in the Nationalist Party in 1917, thereafter remaining in conservative hands until 1943. Tom Burke, father of Brian, henceforth held the seat until his defeat in 1955 by Liberal candidate Fred Chaney Senior, whose son would later serve as a Senator, Fraser government minister and member for the lower house seat of Pearce. Chaney was defeated in 1969 by Labor's Joe Berinson, a junior minister in the Whitlam government and future state Attorney-General. The 1975 debacle cost Labor all its WA seats except for Fremantle, with Berinson suffering a narrow defeat at the hands of Liberal candidate Ross McLean. The Liberals were considerably boosted by the 1977 redistribution, but the seat nonetheless fell in 1983 to Australian hockey captain Ric Charlesworth. Labor was strengthened when the 1990 redistribution extended the electorate east to Bassendean, and Stephen Smith had no trouble succeeding Charlesworth in 1993 before picking up a remarkable swing against the trend of the 1996 election. | |