THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

GLASS HOUSE
Labor 8.9%

Glass House was recreated at the 2001 election after previously having existed between 1986 and 1992. It took in the northern part of the abolished Caboolture and the Glass House Mountains region beyond as far as Mooloolah. The electorate is naturally marginal, with the Labor-leaning Caboolture area being balanced out by the rural areas in the north. Glass House was won by the Nationals in 1986 and Labor in 1989, with the Nationals having a notional margin of 4.3 per cent going into the 2001 election. Labor's Carolyn Male (left) won on that occasion with a 13.9 per cent swing and only suffered a 0.7 per cent correction at the 2004 election, when her primary vote increased from 40.8 per cent to 48.8 per cent on the back of the decline of One Nation (and perhaps also the absence of a Liberal candidate). A former school teacher, Male won a minor promotion to chair of caucus in the July 2005 reshuffle, and Malcolm Cole of the Courier-Mail reports she is "mentioned as a future minister in AWU ranks". Nationals candidate Ken Piva (right) is the former owner of the Blue Pacific Hotel on Bribie Island. They had originally nominated former police officer Rod Strong, but he withdrew in April citing personal reasons.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain