THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

MAROUBRA
Labor 23.5%

Maroubra includes the northern end of the entrance to Botany Bay, extending west to Little Bay and north to Maroubra Junction. The redistribution has produced an exchange of territory with Heffron to the west; 9000 voters have been added between Wentworth Avenue and Botany Bay, while 2800 have been removed from Pagewood immediately to the north. A further 3500 voters north of Rainbow Street have been transferred to Coogee. The electorate was created in 1950 and has provided a home for two Labor premiers – Bob Heffron from 1950 to 1968 and Bob Carr from 1983 to 2005, with Bill Haigh holding the seat in the interim. Carr's departure initiated a preselection struggle between various members of the Right: Michael Daley (right) and Chris Bastic, both lawyers and Randwick councillors, along with Penny Wright, former government relations officer with the ANZ. Also mentioned early in proceedings was Graeme Wedderburn, Carr's former chief-of-staff, but it was understood he was relying on a head office intervention. This was not forthcoming, partly because the party did not wish to put local noses further out of joint after the imposition of Peter Garrett as federal member for Kingsford-Smith the year before. The rank-and-file ballot was won by Daley with 140 votes against 110 for Wright, after accounting for the affirmative action loading. Daley polled 58.3 per cent at the by-election in the absence of a Liberal candidate, down from Bob Carr's 64.1 per cent in 2003.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain