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THE POLL BLUDGER WERRIWA
The outer south-western seat of Werriwa has been considerably altered by the current redistribution, absorbing territory from the south (Eagle Vale and Blair Athol) and west (Leppington and Rossmore) from Macarthur while losing Austral and the area around Bonnyrigg Heights in the north, which now forms the eastern end of Fowler. This is far from the first time the seat has been buffeted by redistributions, having begun its life at federation centred around Goulburn, 200 kilometres to the south-west of Sydney. It was changed fundamentally by the redistributions of 1934, which shifted it east to the Illawarra, 1949, when it moved north as far as the Sutherland Shire, and 1955, which placed it in the western outskirts at Cabramatta and Liverpool. Labor's Hubert Lazzarini followed his shifting electorate from 1919 until his death in 1952, dropping it to the Country Party for one term in 1931. He was succeeded by Gough Whitlam, whose life story does not need reiterating here. John Kerin became member in 1978 when Whitlam quit in the wake of the 1977 election disaster, and is unfortunately best remembered for his accident-prone spell as Treasurer when Paul Keating moved to the back-bench following his failed first leadership challenge in early 1991. Kerin was followed in 1994 by the seat's second Labor leader, Mark Latham. Although Labor's hold on the seat was never endangered, Latham went through a wild ride in his time here in more ways than one – it swung 9.3 per cent to the Liberals in 1996, 6.5 per cent to Labor in 4.8 per cent to Liberal in 2001. Latham was also disrupted by the redistribution ahead of the 2001 election, when his strongest party branches were removed from the electorate. His factional enemies, who were apparently not in short supply, argued he should instead be made to try his luck in marginal Macarthur. When Latham quit politics in January 2005, it was widely reckoned that Labor preselection would go to local lawyer and Campbelltown mayor Brenton Banfield, but he reportedly lost factional backing after focus group research suggested his legal work for sex offenders could be a liability. Banfield was persuaded to step aside and allow a clear run for Chris Hayes, an official of the Australian Workers Union, who easily retained the seat in the absence of a Liberal candidate. | |