THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

CANTERBURY
Labor 27.4%

Canterbury is located about 10 kilometres south-west of the city centre, from Summer Hill and Croydon Park south through Canterbury to Earlwood. The redistribution has resulted in a swap of territory with Strathfield to the north, adding 5000 voters at Summer Hill and removing 1300 at Enfield to the west, with little impact on the margin. The seat has been in Labor hands since 1913, barring one term from 1932 when it fell to an independent. Former NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs director-general Linda Burney (right) became member in 2003, becoming New South Wales' first indigenous MP. She had won preselection with the backing of Left faction heavyweight Anthony Albanese after the previous member, Kevin Moss of the Right, reluctantly agreed to step aside. Linda Silmalis of AAP reported that Burney had received cross-factional backing as part of a deal that delivered Heathcote to Paul McLeay of the Right. It had earlier been reported that Mark McLeay, brother Paul and son of former federal Watson MP Leo McLeay, also had designs on the seat. Burney was promoted to parliamentary secretary to the Education Minister in August 2005, and filled one of the ALP's three national president positions in August 2006. This came shortly after the death of her husband Rick Farley, a former Democrats Senate candidate who was president of the National Farmers Federation when it backed the Keating government's 1993 native title campaign.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain