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THE POLL BLUDGER WHITSUNDAY
Whitsunday was created at the 1950 election upon the abolition of Bowen and Mirani, the former of which produced an historic result in 1943 when it elected Fred Paterson of the Communist Party. The National/Country Party held Whitsunday from its creation until 1989, when it fell to Labor's Lorraine Bird. Whitsunday was one of the 11 seats to be won by One Nation in 1998, when their candidate Harry Black narrowly pipped the Nationals to second place and secured a narrow 1.7 per cent win on their preferences, after trailing Bird 39.7 per cent to 30.7 per cent on the primary vote. Black quit One Nation in December 1999 and went into the 2001 election as a member of the City-Country Alliance, resulting in an even split of votes between himself and the One Nation candidate and an easy victory for Labor, whose candidate Jan Jarratt prevailed over the Nationals by 9.4 per cent on two-party preferred. The Nationals chances of a comeback in 2004 were thwarted when it emerged a week out from polling day that their candidate, Dan van Blarcom, had been involved with neo-fascist groups in the early 1970s. This led to his disendorsement, though it occurred too late for the ballot paper to be amended. Van Blarcom finished third behind Harry Black, who was running this time as an independent. ASSESSMENT: Labor retain | |