THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

HEATHCOTE
Labor 12.3%

Heathcote extends from the northern part of the Illawarra, as far south as Bulli, to the southern edge of Sydney at Port Hacking. Before the redistribution it extended through Engadine and Sutherland to Georges River, but this area and its 8000 voters have now been transferred to Miranda and Menai. In exchange, its southern coastal area has extended to take in 8500 voters in Bulli and Thirroul from Keira, adding 3.6 per cent to the Labor margin. The electorate was created at the 1971 election in place of the abolished Bulli, which had been in Labor's hands since its creation in 1930. Rex Jackson had held the seat since 1955 and became the inaugural member for Heathcote, where he continued his epic political career until 1986. He was then compelled to resign when an inquiry recommended he be charged for soliciting bribes for the early release of prisoners during his tenure as Corrective Services Minister, which ultimately led to his imprisonment.

The seat was retained for Labor at the ensuing by-election by Ian McManus, who prevailed over the Liberal candidate with a 2.8 per cent margin despite an 18.2 per cent drop in the Labor primary vote. The latter figure was partly influenced by Jackson's interesting decision to run as an independent; he polled 6.4 per cent. In 1988 McManus moved to the short-lived new seat of Burragorang, and Heathcote fell to Liberal candidate Allan Andrews by a margin of 1.8 per cent. The cut in parliamentary numbers at the 1991 election led to the recreation of Bulli with a notional Labor margin of 6.3 per cent, while both Heathcote and Burragorang were abolished. Andrews unsuccessfully sought refuge in the Sydney seat of Coogee and McManus had no trouble winning Bulli, the name of which changed back to Heathcote in 1999.

McManus retired at the 2003 election when it became apparent he had lost control of local branches. Lisa Carty of the Illawarra Mercury reported that McManus had suffered from a sudden expansion in the Engadine/Heathcote branch ahead of the 1999 election, which gave it double the membership of other branches in the electorate. These members reportedly joined at the behest of Right faction member Gerry Ambroisine, whose anticipated challenge to McManus failed to eventuate. However, the Mercury reported that Ambroisine was close to the Right-backed candidate for the 2003 preselection, Paul McLeay (right), a Public Service Association official and son of former Grayndler and Watson federal MP Leo McLeay. Linda Silmalis of AAP reported that McLeay also benefited from a cross-factional deal which gave the Left's Linda Burney backing for the Canterbury preselection.

McLeay nonetheless failed to carry the initial rank-and-file ballot, in which Maryanne Stuart of the Left faction Australian Services Union scored 74.4 votes (after her 62 votes were boosted by the affirmative action loading) to McLeay's 74. At this point two votes were left outstanding as their validity had been disputed by the Stuart camp. The party's head office ruled against Stuart's complaint and the two votes gave McLeay the narrowest of victories. McLeay went on to enjoy an incident-free election and was promoted to parliamentary secretary to the Health Minister in September 2005.

The Liberal candidate is small businessman Lee Evans (left), who ran in Keira at the 2003 election.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain