THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

MANSFIELD
Labor 8.6%

Mansfield covers the eastern part of Mount Gravatt, about 10 kilometres south-east of the city, and undeveloped Belmont and Rochedale east of the Gateway Motorway. Since its creation in 1972, the seat has served as an electoral litmus test to put Eden-Monaro to shame. In the elections from 1972 to 1980 it was won by the Liberals, as would be expected from a metropolitan swinging seat in a period of coalition hegemony. In 1983 and 1986, when the National Party came to govern in its own right, Mansfield was among the gains from the Liberals that made it possible. Then right on cue in 1989, when Wayne Goss came to power, the seat fell to Labor's Laurel Power. At the 1995 election that ultimately led to Goss's defeat, Power was dumped by a 9.3 per cent swing blamed on that election's decisive issue, the Logan Motorway toll. Labor just scraped over the line when they came to power as a minority government in 1998, and they secured a thumping margin with the 2001 landslide which remained intact in 2004.

Phil Reeves (left) is still best remembered for the court challenge against his 80-vote victory in 1998, in which Labor's capacity to form a government was potentially at stake. His highest office to date has been the Deputy Government Whip position he attained in 2000. Reeves was a sports management and marketing consultant before entering politics, and is a member of the Left faction Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. Liberal candidate Glen Ryan (right) is chair of Teen Challenge Care Queensland.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain