THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

TABLELANDS
One Nation 12.4% vs Nationals

A far north Queensland seat bordered to the east by the Great Dividing Range, Tablelands existed from 1932 to 1972 (its name changed from "The Tableland" in 1950), in which time it was fought over by Labor and the Country Party. It was then merged with the more Labor-leaning electorate of Cook, before being recreated in 1986. Tom Gilmore safely held the seat for the Nationals from then until 1998, when One Nation candidate Shaun Nelson outpolled him 42.0 per cent to 32.9 per cent and prevailed by just 0.3 per cent after distribution of Labor preferences. Nelson, who was not reckoned to be the sharpest tool in the One Nation shed, quit the party in February 1999 and contested the 2001 election as an independent, polling 15.3 per cent to finish in fourth place. The winner was the official One Nation candidate, Rosa Lee Long (left), who scored 36.0 per cent on the primary vote to Labor's 24.8 per cent and the Nationals' 16.4 per cent, ultimately prevailing over Labor by 13.8 per cent on two-party preferred. Lee Long bucked the party's trend at the 2004 election to win re-election with an extra 11.0 per cent on the primary vote. This made her the only One Nation MP ever to win re-election; after Len Harris's Senate term ended in mid-2005, she was the party's last remaining parliamentarian. The Nationals have nominated George Adil (centre), a Mareeba farmer and real estate agent; Labor candidate Denis McKinely (right) is Cape York and Tablelands area director for the Queensland Fire Service.

ASSESSMENT: One Nation retain