THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

GLADSTONE
Independent 11.2% vs Labor

Gladstone includes the coastal industrial city 500 kilometres north of Brisbane that bears its name, and extends a further 80 kilometres westwards to Ambrose and southwards to Builyan. Prior to the 1992 election the city formed the basis of the electorate of Port Curtis, which had existed since Queensland's establishment in 1858 and was in Labor hands for all but two terms after 1915. Calliope Shire mayor Liz Cunningham (right) came within 4.2 per cent of winning the new seat as an independent at the 1992 election, and went one better in 1995 in defeating Labor member Neil Bennett by 3.1 per cent with Nationals and Greens preferences. Labor's defeat at the Mundingburra by-election of February 1996 left Cunningham holding the balance of power, which she used to despose Wayne Goss's Labor government and install National Party leader Rob Borbidge as Premier. Despite the unpopularity of this move in her electorate, where the Nationals vote has ranged from 2.3 per cent to 7.4 per cent since 1998, Cunningham was narrowly re-elected in 1998 and 2001. Her position was not truly consolidated until 2004 when she picked up a 7.7 per cent two-candidate swing, despite having been charged for refusing to undergo a breath test in April 2002. Labor's nominee Chris Trevor (centre), a Gladstone councillor and prominent local solicitor, is a candidate of sufficient stature to suggest Labor is still hopeful Cunningham can be defeated. The Nationals have again nominated former NSW police prosecutor John Todd (right), whose 7.4 per cent of the vote was their best result here since 1995.

ASSESSMENT: Independent retain