THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

FAIRFIELD
Labor 26.4%

The electorate of Fairfield extends from Fairfield itself north to Woodpark and east to Chester Hill, with Orphan School Creek and Hume Highway as the southern boundaries. The redistribution has moved it to the north, adding nearly 9000 new voters around Chester Hill and Guildford from Granville and 6500 in Merrylands from Smithfield. At the other end, the southern boundary has moved north to Orphan School Creek and Liverpool Road. The former involves a shift of around 8000 voters in Adams Park and Wakeley to Cabramatta; the latter sends 5000 voters at Bass Hill West to Bankstown. These changes have cut 0.5 per cent from Labor's margin in a seat it has held since its creation in 1953.

The member since 1995 has been Joe Tripodi (right), who has had an interesting career both on and off the field. Tripodi received his political blooding in Young Labor, where he spearheaded a Right takeover in the early 1990s in concert with Reba Meagher, his one-time fiancee and a future member for Cabramatta. He has since become associated with the "Terrigals" sub-faction of the Right, so named because its first meeting was held at powerbroker Eddie Obeid's Terrigal beach house. Tripodi secured the prize seat of Fairfield at the age of 27 after launching a preselection challenge against Geoff Irwin, a former front-bencher who had held the seat since 1984. The first of Tripodi's many controversies erupted in September 1999 when a Young Democrats staffer told police he had sexually assaulted her in his office during a party at Parliament House to mark the arrival of the Olympic torch. Kogarah MP Cherie Burton, who had been seen coming out of the room by a friend of the alleged victim, told ICAC she had entered Tripodi's office to find him fumbling with his belt while the alleged victim stood nearby, fully clothed. The Democrats staffer ultimately declined to pursue the matter further.

The following February, public accounts committee manager Yael Larkin applied for an apprehended violence order against Tripodi, then the committee chairman. Larkin alleged that Tripodi attempted to intimidate her and issued threats against the business interests of her husband Stephen, who was attempting to establish a gaming venue in his electorate against Tripodi's opposition. The order was withdrawn shortly before a scheduled court hearing the following July. In late 2004 Tripodi was caught up in the storm over Assistant Planning Minister Diane Beamer's decision which closed the Orange Grove shopping centre to the advantage of deep-pocketed Labor donors Westfield, despite himself having opposed the move. Orange Grove owner Nabil Gazal produced a statutory declaration claiming that Tripodi said Beamer had told him she was acting under the orders of Bob Carr, who wished to do a favour for Westfield chairman Frank Lowy. In April 2005 counsel assisting the inquiry made a submission which said Tripodi's evidence regarding the matter was "unsatisfactory", "unconvincing" and "not reliable", although he emerged unscathed when the final report was brought down the following August.

Tripodi overcame these hiccups to win promotion to a parliamentary secretary position after the 2003 election, and in February 2005 he was given one of the Right's places in cabinet ahead of Eric Roozendal, upper house member and former party state secretary. He served as Housing Minister from then until Bob Carr's retirement in July, when he threw his weight behind Morris Iemma's leadership bid ahead of his long-time benefactor Carl Scully. For this he was rewarded with promotion to Roads Minister, placing him at the centre of the political disaster area that was the Cross City Tunnel project. When the RTA failed to publicly disclose a contract amendment that increased tolls for the tunnel, Roads and Traffic Authority chief Paul Forward lost his job while Tripodi kept his, despite the fact that the "previously secret" measure had been approved by Tripodi's predecessor, the aforementioned Scully. This came shortly after Tripodi was thrust into the national spotlight by his altercation in parliament with Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser, who Tripodi had been goading about his failure to attend an announcement of new safety measures for the Pacific Highway. Tripodi suffered a slight demotion to the portfolios of energy and ports and waterways in the reshuffle the following February, which The Australian described as a "surprise move".

In November the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Reba Meagher had written to Fairfield Council in support of a controversial development of benefit to Tripodi in March 1997, three years after the end of their relationship. The council later rezoned land owned by Westside Property Developments to allow construction of a petrol station and fast-food outlet. This was done "over the objections of residents, businesses and the council's then environmental planner". The site was subsequently sold to Burger King and BP for considerably more than Westside had paid when they bought it from the Roads and Traffic Authority and Sydney Water in 1996. Meagher denied knowing of Tripodi's shares in Westside.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain