QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

BARRON RIVER Labor 4.8%
Region: Northern Cairns Federal divisions: Leichhardt/Kennedy
	WENDY RICHARDSON Liberal National (bottom) STEVE WETTENHALL Labor (top) SARAH ISAACS Greens

Barron River covers the northern suburbs of Cairns and beyond for about 25 kilometres as far as Ellis Beach. The redistribution has extended its northern territories a further 10 kilometres along the coast, taking in Clifton Beach and Palm Cove, while detaching suburban Edge Hill to Cairns. The changes have slightly reduced Labor's margin, from 5.1 per cent to 4.8 per cent. The electorate was created in 1972 when it was won for Labor by Bill Wood, previously member for Cook and later to return to politics in the Australian Capital Territory in 1989. Wood was defeated in the 1974 landslide by Martin Tenni of the Country Party, who held the seat until his retirement in 1989. It then fell to Labor's Lesley Clark with the election of the Goss government, whose electoral reforms put an end to what Antony Green described as an electoral boundary “helpful” to the Nationals.

Clark lost the seat in 1995 when Liberal candidate Lyn Warwick got up in a three-cornered contest, but won it back with a 0.6 per cent margin amid the upheaval of 1998. One Nation candidate Peter Starr narrowly failed to beat Warwick into second place on that occasion, and would most likely have won the seat with her preferences had he done so. Clark, Warwick and Starr again took the field in 2001, a contest further complicated by Cairns councillor and independent candidate Sno Bonneau who finished second with 19.0 per cent. The three-way split in the non-Labor vote helped Clark to a 7.3 per cent two-candidate margin over Bonneau. Normality was restored when the Liberal vote doubled in 2004, when Clark won with an uncomfortable two-party margin of 3.1 per cent. Clark retired in 2006 and was succeeded by criminal lawyer Steve Wettenhall, who won preselection unopposed. In keeping with Labor's strong performance throughout the local area, Wettenhall picked up a 2.0 per cent two-party swing despite a slight decline on the primary vote, thanks to preferences from the strongly performing Greens (13.3 per cent) outweighing those of conservative independent Peter Todd (10.6 per cent).

The Liberal National Party candidate is speech pathologist Wendy Richardson, who ran unsuccessfully in Cairns in 2006. Richardson caused a mild stir in October 2008 when she dubbed her Labor opponent “Wet 'n No Balls” (a weak pun on his surname) in an email to party supporters. There was surprising talk in June 2008 that Warren Entsch might return to contest either Barron River or Cairns, but he ultimately declined. Entsch's retirement as member for Leichhardt at the November 2007 federal election almost certainly cost the Liberals the seat.

PREDICTION: LIBERAL NATIONAL GAIN