THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

ALBURY
Liberal 22.4%

The electorate of Albury includes the Murray River border city of that name, along with (from west to east) the shires of Corowa, Greater Hume and Tumbarumba. The last of the three has been gained in the latest redistribution from Wagga Wagga, adding 4000 voters to cover a projected 7 per cent decline in enrolment since 1998 (and more than doubling the electorate's geographic area). In an uninterrupted history going back to 1880, the seat was only held by Labor for two brief periods until Harold Mair's win in the 1978 "Wranslide". Mair held the seat until the Unsworth government was defeated in 1988, when the gun law backlash helped deliver it to Liberal candidate Ian Glachan. Labor's fortunes declined as reductions in the size of parliament forced the electorate into more conservative rural territory, although Albury councillor Claire Douglas came within 1.0 per cent of winning as an independent in 1999. Glachan retired in 2003 and was succeeded by Greg Aplin (right), who had worked locally as a television station manager and university administrator. Aplin was born in Zambia and served as a Rhodesian diplomat and Zimbabwean government official after independence in 1980, before moving to Australia in 1981. He first had to overcome another challenge from Claire Douglas, but her primary vote dropped from 34.8 per cent to 22.5 per cent.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain