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THE POLL BLUDGER TANGNEY
When created in 1974, Tangney covered a broad swathe of Perth's south-east from the industrial coastal area of Kwinana to the outer south-eastern centre of Gosnells. The former area was transferred to the new electorate of Brand when parliament was enlarged in 1984, which turned Tangney into a safe Liberal seat. It had previously been won for Labor in 1974 by John Dawkins, who returned as member for Fremantle in 1977 and went on to serve as Treasurer in the Keating government, and in 1983 by George Gear, who relocated to Canning in 1984. Former Attorney-General Daryl Williams assumed the seat in 1993 on the retirement of Peter Shack, the Andrew Peacock ally and hapless Shadow Health Minister who held it from 1977 to 1983 and again after 1984. Williams retired in 2004 and was replaced by defence scientist Dennis Jensen, who in August 2006 was defeated in a preselection vote by Matt Brown, former chief-of-staff to Defence Minister Robert Hill. This result was overturned by the party's state executive with the backing of the Prime Minister. | |