THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

WAKEHURST
Liberal 13.2%

Wakehurst extends from the northern beaches suburbs of Collaroy and Dee Why inland through Frenchs Forest and Brockvale to Forestville and Killarney Heights. The redistribution has shifted its coastal boundary with Manly to the south, adding 2000 voters in Dee Why, while to the west it gains 4500 voters in Frenchs Forest from Davidson. These changes have added 0.5 per cent to the Liberal margin. The seat was created in 1962 and fell to Labor only with the "Wranslides" of 1978 and 1981.

Formerly a partner in a Manly legal firm, current member Brad Hazzard (right) came to the seat in 1991 after a coup against sitting member John Booth, whom he defeated in a preselection vote 28 to 22. Hazzard spent his first term embroiled in controversy over his relationship with Terry Metherell, the Davidson MP whose appointment to a public service sinecure ultimately led to Nick Greiner's resignation as Premier. The proceedings at the Independent Commission Against Corruption led Hazzard to launch legal action against his own party's Attorney-General, Peter Collins, who rejected his bid for legal assistance due to what Hazzard claimed were the political sensitivities of the issue. He ultimately dropped the claim against Collins, and had to sell three properties to cover his legal expenses. The ICAC report exonerated him, but said he was "a distinctly unsatisfactory witness full of mock nonchalance and apparent desire to talk his way through difficulties rather than face up to them".

Hazzard nonetheless maintained his reputation as a rising star, taking on the front-bench portfolios of corrective and emergency services when the Coalition lost office in 1995, and moving to environment the following year. In December 1997 he was demoted to sport and recreation along with Kerry Chikarovski, an early sign of the unsettled atmosphere in the party ahead of the latter's successful leadership challenge. Hazzard resumed corrective services and gained housing when Chikarovksi became leader, before moving to community services, disability services and ageing in 2000. He supported Chikarovski throughout her tenure as leader and voted against John Brogden's successful leadership bid in March 2002 ; that he maintained his portfolios afterwards was seen as a vote of confidence in his performance. It was even suggested he might be a candidate for the leadership when Brogden resigned in August 2005.

In April last year, popular Sydney radio broadcaster Wendy Harmer created a stir when she announced she would run for the seat as an independent, saying the community needed "better representation in fighting over-development, improving public transport and other community issues" (she has also expressed interest in Bronwyn Bishop's federal seat of Mackellar). It was widely noted that the coastal electorates to the south and north, Manly and Pittwater, were also held by independents. Andrew Clennell of the Sydney Morning Herald reported "speculation" Harmer had been approached to run as a Liberal candidate, which she declined to deny (unlike Peter Debnam). Harmer eventually had second thoughts, announcing in June that she would not run due to family reasons.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain