QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

MOUNT COOT-THA Labor 10.6%
Region: Inner Western Brisbane Federal divisions: Brisbane/Ryan
	DAVE ZWOLENSKI Independent JAMES SINNAMON Independent LARISSA WATERS Greens SUZANNE KARAMUJIC DS4SEQ JOHN POLLARD Liberal National (bottom) ANDREW FRASER Labor (top)

The inner western electorate of Mount Coot-tha was created in 1950 in place of abolished Enoggera, which had been a marginal seat over the preceding decades. Until 1986 it covered much of the territory that henceforth constituted Moggill, the remainder being in Ithaca. Both seats were held by the the Liberals until 1989, and thereafter by Labor. Former Health Minister Wendy Edmond held the seat from 1989 until she retired in 2004, her closest call coming in 1995 when an 8.9 per cent swing closed the gap to 3.5 per cent. The seat covers a strong area for the Greens, and there were suggestions former ABC television and radio presenter Andrew Carroll might win it for them when he ran upon Edmond's retirement in 2004. However, Carroll's 23.6 per cent was less than perennial candidate Drew Hutton had managed when he ran here in 1995, and left him 6.5 per cent behind the Liberal candidate at the second last count. The party's vote fell only slightly in 2006, to 21.7 per cent.

The new Labor member, Andrew Fraser, rapidly emerged as the boy wonder of the Beattie-Bligh government. Fraser was an MP at 27, a parliamentary secretary at 28 and a cabinet minister at 29, taking on the local government, planning and sport portfolios after the 2006 election. Peter Beattie's departure in September 2007 prompted his most significant promotion yet, taking the position of Treasurer which had been vacated by Anna Bligh. A member of the Labor Unity faction, Fraser pre-parliamentary career encompassed positions with various state back-benchers and ministers and a year with the party's federal secretariat in 2001, before he returned to Brisbane to pave his way to preselection from a position as party organiser.

PREDICTION: Labor retain