QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

EVERTON Labor 10.6%
Region: Northern Brisbane Federal division: Dickson/Brisbane/Petrie Outgoing Member: Rod Welford (Labor)
	TROY KNOX Liberal National (bottom) MURRAY WATT Labor (top) BRUCE HALLETT Greens ANTHONY VELLA DS4SEQ

Everton covers suburbs on the inland side of Brisbane's northern corridor, from Everton Park six kilometres north-west of the city to Eatons Hill a further 10 kilometres along. The redistribution sees it lose 3200 voters in the McDowall area to Aspley in the west while gaining 4600 at Eatons Hill in the north from Kurwongbah, adding 0.5 per cent to the Labor margin. The electorate was created in 1972 and has been won by Labor at each election except the 1974 landslide, when it fell to the Liberals. Education Minister Rod Welford is vacating the seat after a parliamentary career going back to 1989, having held Stafford for a term before moving to Everton on its creation in 1992. His closest electoral shave came when a 10.7 per cent swing in 1995 cut his margin to 1.0 per cent.

New Labor candidate Murray Watt is a former chief-of-staff to Anna Bligh, who won preselection after securing the backing of the Left. This was despite Welford's efforts to secure the succession for his former campaign director Richard Alcorn, with The Australian's Sean Parnell earlier reporting that Welford would only retire if Alcorn got the seat. Steven Wardill of the Courier-Mail also reported on a complicated but unsuccessful gambit by Steven Miles of the Queensland Public Sector Union to secure the seat by switching factions from Right to Left.

Labor has gone to the effort of securing a preference deal from the Greens in this seat, interpreted in some quarters as a sign of its concern. This view is apparently echoed on the other side of the fence, with Craig Johnstone of the Courier-Mail relating LNP hopes that the Royal Children's Hospital issue will “pick them up some vulnerable Labor seats like Everton and Aspley”.

PREDICTION: Labor retain