THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

COOGEE
Labor 13.6%

Coogee is one of three electorates that cover the Sydney coast between Port Jackson and Botany Bay, along with Vaucluse to the north and Maroubra to the south. The redistribution has shifted the boundary south to Rainbow Street, adding 3500 voters in Kingsford from Maroubra and a further 800 in Kensington from Heffron. Coogee was once a keenly fought marginal seat, having been held by Liberal member Kevin Ellis from 1948 to 1953, 1956 to 1962 and 1965 to 1973, with Labor's Louis Walsh holding it in the intervening periods. Ellis's successor Ross Freeman won by just eight votes in 1973, a result Labor successfully challenged in the Court of Disputed Returns. The ensuing by-election produced a 54-vote victory for Labor's Mike Cleary, and the seat has been in Labor hands ever since. In 1991 the abolition of neighbouring Waverley set its member Ernie Page against Cleary for preselection, with the two candidates respectively backed by the Left and Right. It had earlier been anticipated that Cleary would retire; according to Stephen Long of the Sydney Morning Herald, he was thought to be running to give the Right leverage in the negotiations that followed the cut in parliamentary numbers from 109 to 99. Page ultimately prevailed due to the Left's strength in local branches, which it has since maintained. When Page retired in 2003 he was succeeded without opposition by another nominee of the Left, Waverley mayor Paul Pearce (left). He will be opposed at the coming election by Liberal candidate Jonathan Flegg (right), the 23-year-old son of Queensland Liberal leader Bruce Flegg.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain