THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

COOK
Labor 7.4%

Cook includes the Torres Strait Islands and the Cape York Peninsula, extending south along the coast almost as far as Cairns. Towns in the latter area such as Cooktown, Miallo and Wonga vote strongly for the Nationals, but are swamped by overwhelming support for Labor in the northern Aboriginal communities that contribute to the electorate's 26 per cent indigenous population. Cook has had an uninterrupted existence going back to 1875, and has been in Labor hands on all but a few occasions since 1915. The last time it was lost was at the 1974 landslide, when National Party candidate Eric Deeral became the first and thus far only Aboriginal member of the Queensland parliament. It was subsequently held for Labor by Robert Scott from 1977 to 1989 and Steve Bredhauer from 1989 to 2004. Nationals candidate and Cooktown mayor Graham Elmes put in a strong bid for the seat upon Bredhauer's retirement, attracting considerable attention during the campaign when he described his own party's hierarchy as "a bunch of dickheads". However the seat was retained for Labor by Jason O'Brien (right), an electorate officer to Bredhauer.

O'Brien soon established a reputation for being accident prone, his first controversy arising from his presence on the flight that sparked the "Winegate" saga. The plane had flown into the "dry" Lockhart River Aboriginal community with a bottle of wine that had been brought on board by Teresa Mullan, media adviser to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Liddy Clark. O'Brien later acknowledged to the Crime and Misconduct Commission that he did not disclose everything he knew about the bottle when he discussed it with the police. Later in the year O'Brien was a passenger in an electorate car being driven by staffer Cameron Unwin when it was involved in an accident, which wrecked a commercial fishing boat and trailer being towed by the other car. It emerged that this was Unwin's third accident in the electorate car for the year. O'Brien managed to keep off the front pages until March 2006, when Peter Beattie ordered that he apologise to Tarni Stephens, Australian Idol contestant and girlfriend of Burnett MP Rob Messenger, for yelling an obscenity at her as she exited a lift at Parliament House.

The Nationals candidate is Peter Scott (left), a motel owner and Cooktown Shire councillor.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain