THE POLL BLUDGER
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Election 2007

WOLLONGONG
Labor 26.9%

The electorate of Wollongong was created in its modern form in 1968, having previously existed from 1904 to 1920 and 1927 to 1930. From 1941 to 1968 it was known as Wollongong-Kembla. On the coast, it extends from the Wollongong city centre south through Port Kembla to Windang; inland, it goes beyond Princes Highway to Mount Kembla and Kembla Grange. The redistribution has resulted in a transfer of territory with Illawarra, which has been renamed Shellharbour – 11,000 voters have been gained around Mount Kembla, and 2500 lost at Koonawarra on Lake Illawarra to the south. A further 2500 voters at Towradgi on the northern coast have been transferred to Keira.

Wollongong-Kembla was held by Labor from its creation in 1941 to 1965, the member from 1950 to 1963 being tragic Whitlam government figure Rex Connor. Labor almost suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Liberal candidate Michael Hough when Connor entered federal parliament in 1964; Hough went one better at the next year's general election, which brought the Askin government to power after 24 years of Labor rule. Hough was re-elected to the new seat of Wollongong in 1968, but Eric Ramsay won it for Labor in 1971. Ramsay lost the seat in 1984 to independent candidate Frank Arkell, who had been Wollongong lord mayor since 1974 and came within 51 votes of defeating Ramsay in 1981. In 1988 Arkell won re-election ahead of Labor's Laurie Kelly, who contested the seat after his own electorate of Corrimal was abolished. Arkell was defeated in 1991; he would later be brutally murdered in 1998, two months before he was due to face court on child sex charges.

Arkell's successor was Labor's Gerry Sullivan, who fell victim to the cut in parliamentary numbers in 1999. Sullivan was successfully challenged for preselection by Left colleague Col Markham after a factional deal delivered Markham's seat of Keira to the Right. Lisa Carty of the Illawarra Mercury reported that Markham reluctantly confronted Sullivan as the seat would otherwise have gone to the Right. The Right reportedly had new designs on Wollongong going into the 2003 election, but these were laid to rest after Labor's shock defeat in the federal Cunningham by-election of October 2002. A deal followed in which Left-controlled local branches would decide the Wollongong preselection, while the Right's David Campbell would be protected in Keira. However, Markham went on to lose preselection to a rival from within the Left, former Miscellaneous Workers Union official Noreen Hay (right).

Hay had also worked as an electorate officer to federal Throsby MP Jennie George, having earlier agreed to stand aside for her when she was preselected in 1998. Lisa Canty of the Illawarra Mercury reported that Hay owed her success over Markham to the support of local councillor and numbers man Kiril Jonovski, along with lingering resentment at the manner of Markham's imposition in 1999. Hay won the vote 95 to 81, despite Bob Carr's urging that Markham was an "ideal member" who should be returned. According to Paul McInerney of the Illawarra Mercury, Hay emerged from her 2003 election win "still seething at the spiteful and damaging treatment dished out by the Left during her election campaign", and she absented herself from Left caucus meetings upon entering parliament. By the end of the year she had defected to the Right, leaving Jennie George as the only remaining Left MP in the area. There were reports in 2003 that Hay's son, solicitor Mark Hay, was considering nominating against George.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain