THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

SPRINGWOOD
Labor 9.7%

Springwood covers inner south-eastern suburbs from Springwood out to Shailer Park, with the Pacific Highway as the western boundary. It has had an interesting history since its creation at the 1986 election, at which it was won by the Nationals. Labor gained the seat when the Goss government came to power in 1989 and held it until 1995, when the area was the focal point of the Logan tollway controversy that ultimately cost them power. With strongly performing Greens and Democrats candidates directing preferences to the Liberals, Labor's Molly Robson was dumped by a two-party preferred swing of 19.5 per cent. Springwood was recovered for Labor in 1998 by Grant Musgrove, whose preselection was later shown by the Shepherdson inquiry to have been secured with help from vote rorting, which forced him to stand aside at the 2001 election. It was a measure of the Shepherdson inquiry's electoral non-impact that Labor's replacement, Barbara Stone (left), enjoyed a 10.1 per cent two-party preferred swing and the easiest of victories. Stone's opponents included anti-child abuse crusader Hetty Johnston, who polled 20.9 per cent as an independent. Despite having been held by the Liberals as recently in 1998, it was the Nationals who won the right to contest the seat in the coalition deal ahead of the 2004 election, and their performance was unimpressive: a 0.7 per cent two-party swing compared with a 2001 result that was complicated by preference leakage from Hetty Johnston and the Liberals.

Barbara Stone was one of a number of factionally unaligned candidates installed by Peter Beattie in late 2000 without a preselection vote as part of his brilliantly effective management of the Shepherdson inquiry crisis. She had spent most of her working life with Australia Post before taking on a job as an electorate officer in 2001. Peter Collins (right) emerged as the Coalition candidate after the seat had been one of many cards in play during negotiations between the Liberals and the Nationals. The matter was decided by a joint preselection at which Collins beat Nationals candidate and council colleague Darren Power. Collins and Power both featured prominently when Stone launched an extended spray at Logan City Council from the floor of parliament in February 2005.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain