THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

PENRITH
Labor 6.6%

The city of Penrith is located 50 kilometres due west of Sydney, with the electorate extending into the surrounding suburbs of Glenbrook, Lapstone and Kingswood. The north-to-south Nepean River marks a sharp divide in the electorate's voting patterns; Labor's vote to its east is 10 per cent higher than in the Blue Mountains foothills to its west. The latter area, perhaps being somewhat closer to nature, is also stronger for the Greens. The redistribution has added more than 2000 voters at Kingswood in the east from Mulgoa and removed around 1000 in the far west to Blue Mountains, thereby boosting the Labor margin by 0.5 per cent. The electorate was created in 1973 and has been won by Labor at every election except 1988, when Health Minister Peter Anderson was narrowly defeated by Liberal candidate Guy Matheson (Anderson re-emerged in Liverpool in 1991).

The Labor candidate who recovered the seat in 1991 was Penrith mayor Faye Lo Po', who survived a small swing in 1995 before consolidating her hold with a 12.4 per cent boost in 1999. Lo Po' served in the Carr government as Fair Trading Minister until 1997 and Community Services Minister from then until her retirement in 2003. She was then succeeded by Karyn Paluzzano (left), a Penrith councillor and teacher of children with learning difficulties, who was anointed for preselection by the state party's hyperactive administrative committee. Labor suffered a sharp 10.6 per cent two-party swing on Paluzzano's electoral debut, driven by a 7.3 per cent drop in the primary vote. In March 2006, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed leaked findings from a Labor focus group of older voters in the area, which showed none in the group could name Paluzzano as their MP. Elsewhere it was reported that Penrith rugby league great Greg Alexander had confirmed an approach to shore up Labor's position by standing for the seat, possibly as part of a plan in which Paluzzano would replace a retiring Richard Amery in Mount Druitt. Alexander turned down the offer due to his media career, but said he would be interested in standing in the future. In any case, Richard Amery has chosen to stay put in Mount Druitt. The Liberals have nominated Tricia Hitchen (right), a former police chief inspector with three decorations for bravery.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain