THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

MARYBOROUGH
Independent 18.0% vs Labor

The town of Maryborough is near the coast 300 kilometres north of Brisbane; the electorate, which has existed uninterrupted since 1865, extends for 80 kilometres inland. It was in Labor hands for all but one term from 1915 to 1971, and has since been held at various times by Labor, Liberal, the Nationals, One Nation and the current member, independent Chris Foley (left). Labor's Ray Dollin won the seat from the Nationals when the Goss government came to power in 1989 and held it until 1998, when it gave One Nation their second best performance in the state. Their candidate John Kingston polled 42.6 per cent on the primary vote to Dollin's 35.7 per cent, translating into an 8.3 per cent win on two-party preferred. Kingston was generally reckoned to be a cut above his One Nation colleagues and had the sense to abandon the party eight months after his election. He was re-elected as an independent in 2001 when he closed an 8.5 per cent primary deficit against Labor on preferences to win by 0.5 per cent, making him one of only two members of the One Nation class of 1998 to win re-election (the other being Dorothy Pratt in Nanango, who also won as an independent. Kingston's retirement due to ill health led to a by-election on 26 April 2003 at which the seat remained in independent hands, Wesleyan Methodist pastor Chris Foley winning the seat after being knocked back for Nationals preselection in favour of Peter Andrews, whom he outpolled 33.5 per cent to 17.2 per cent. Labor led the primary vote with 37.0 per cent, but Foley won by 3.5 per cent after preferences. The 2004 campaign was highlighted by the withdrawal of Nationals candidate Michael Giles hours before the closure of nominations when it was revealed he had failed to inform the party of a domestic violence order that had been taken out against him, leaving the party without a candidate. Giles went on to claim that the Nationals were not serious about winning the seat and were content to see it remain with Foley, who ended up winning a primary vote majority in every booth for a total of 64.9 per cent. Nationals candidate Damien Tessman (right) is president of the Queensland Young Nationals.

ASSESSMENT: Independent retain