THE POLL BLUDGER
Queensland Legislative Assembly Election 2006

TOWNSVILLE
Labor 5.3%

Townsville covers the northern part of the city that bears its name, along with Magnetic Island and Palm Island to the north. It has been in Labor hands since 1989, marking a return to the dominance the party enjoyed here prior to 1960. In that year the electorate was divided into Townsville North, held by Labor's Percy Tucker (who later led his party to the slaughter at the 1974 election), and Townsville South, held by independent veteran Tom Aikens. Townsville was re-created when Townsville North was abolished at the 1972 election, when it was won for the Liberals by Norman Scott-Young. The seat changed hands at three successive elections in the 1980s – in 1983, when Scott-Young was defeated by Labor's Ken McElligott; in 1986, when McElligott moved to the new electorate of Thuringowa and Townsville was won for the Nationals by Tony Burreket; and in 1989, when Labor candidate Ken Davies won before jumping ship to Mundingburra in 1992. It was subsequently held for Labor by Geoffrey Smith until 1998 and thereafter by Mike Reynolds. Labor's performances here at the last two elections have been relatively disappointing – the swing in 2001 was a meagre 1.8 per cent, presumably as a consequence of the Shepherdson inquiry, and it went 6.0 per cent the other way in 2004, partly due to a 13.0 per cent vote for the Greens who had not contested in 2001.

Mike Reynolds (left) was elevated to cabinet after the 2001 election as Emergency Services Minister, and given the new portfolio of child safety in 2004. This might sound like a demotion at first, but the portfolio was in fact created in response to what had been the major issue of the 2004 election campaign, the Crime and Misconduct Commission's inquiry into child abuse in foster homes. Reynolds was a central figure in the events investigated by the Shepherdson inquiry in late 2000, as the conviction of former Townsville councillor Karen Ehrmann for electoral fraud related in part to her activities in support of his preselection ahead of the 1998 election. This support came despite Ehrmann being an AWU factional colleague of his opponent Tony Mooney (then as now the mayor of Townsville), and she accused Mooney of leaking the documents that led to her conviction as an act of revenge. Reynolds denied claims he was aware of Ehrmann's activities on his behalf and was cleared by the inquiry. He had earlier been the Left's preferred preselection candidate ahead of Mooney for the disastrous Mundingburra by-election of February 1996. The Liberals have nominated 21-year-old Jessica Weber (right), a law and economics student at James Cook University, who is reckoned by an admiring Damien Stannard of the Sunday Mail to be "young, intelligent, charismatic and determined", not to mention "feisty, passionate and articulate".

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain