THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

TOONGABBIE
Labor 16.7%

Located about 25 kilometres to the west of the city centre, Toongabbie was created by the current redistribution in place of the abolished Wentworthville, 4500 voters in the suburb of that name having been transferred to Parramatta in the east. Other parts of the old seat have gone to Baulkham Hills to the north (9000 voters around Northmead), Smithfield in the west (6000 voters around Greystanes) and Granville in the east (3000 voters south of Pendle Hill). The renamed electorate has been reoriented westward and northward, respectively adding more than 7000 voters around Grantham from Blacktown and 18,000 around Lalor Park from Riverstone. The area of Girraween, Pendle Hill and Toongabbie itself carries over from Wentworthville, accounting for the remaining 21,500 voters.

Wentworthville was held for Labor by Ernie Quinn from its creation in 1962 until his retirement in 1988, when he was succeeded by Pam Allan. It was subsequently abolished when parliamentary numbers were cut at the 1991 election, leading Allan to find refuge in Blacktown. The Right had initially proposed that Allan contest Riverstone, where the redistribution had cut the margin from 7.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, so its member Richard Amery could move to safer Mount Druitt. This plan encountered vehement opposition from Allan's Left faction because it put a sitting female member in jeopardy. The problem was resolved when John Aquilina, the Right faction member for Blacktown, agreed to make his seat available to Allan by contesting Riverstone, successfully as it turned out.

Allan returned to Wentworthville when it was re-created in 1999 as part of another redistribution brought on by a cut in parliamentary numbers. There were suggestions at the time the seat might provide a haven for one of the senior party figures whose seats had been abolished, notably Gladesville MP John Watkins and Ashfield MP Paul Whelan. These were scotched when Londonderry MP Paul Gibson was exonerated by an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry, meaning the promise of a safe seat he had received needed to be fulfilled. Gibson was accommodated in Blacktown and Allan returned to Wentworthville, leaving Watkins and Whelan to contest the notionally Liberal seats of Ryde and Strathfield (which they did successfully).

There was further manoeuvring for the seat ahead of the current election, with Left faction warlord Laurie Ferguson hoping Allan might make way for Tanya Gadiel so that her existing seat of Parramatta could go to the local lord mayor, David Borger. Allan described Ferguson's group at the time as "factional opportunists" and insisted both she and Gadiel would contest their existing electorates. She subsequently had a change of heart, announcing her decision to retire in June. The vacancy was filled by Nathan Reece (right) after Morris Iemma enlisted the national executive to impose his favoured candidates in this and four other seats. These included Newcastle and Londonderry – according to Damien Murphy of the Sydney Morning Herald, this was part of a deal where the Right would gain Newcastle with the axing of sitting member Bryce Gaudry, and the Left would gain the other two.

Nathan Reece has worked over the years as an adviser to Health Ministers Craig Knowles and Morris Iemma, Premier Bob Carr and, most recently, disgraced Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos. The latter connection came to haunt him two months after his preselection, when Orkopoulos was charged with offences including sex with boys aged between 10 and 18, sexual assault and supplying illegal drugs. Morris Iemma called Reece in to ask if he heard of the rumours surrounding Orkopoulos, which appeared to have been widespread in Hunter-area party circles.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain