QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

MULGRAVE Labor 9.4%
Region: Northern Coast Federal divisions: Kennedy/Leichhardt Outgoing Member: Warren Pitt (Labor)
	HUGH WHITEHOUSE Greens VIC BLACK Liberal National (bottom) DAMIAN BYRNES Independent CURTIS WARREN PITT Labor (top)

Mulgrave extends from the southern outskirts of Cairns southwards along the coast to Innisfail. The redistribution has detached a small area around Forest Gardens containing 1900 voters to Cairns, with little impact on the margin. The electorate was created in 1950 and held by the National/Country Party from 1957 to 1989, when it fell to Labor's Warren Pitt with the election of the Goss government. It has since changed hands on three occasions: in 1995, when Naomi Wilson of the National Party squeaked ahead by 0.5 per cent; in 1998, when One Nation candidate Charles Rappolt narrowly overtook the Nationals (who had again nominated Naomi Wilson) and coasted home on their preferences; and at the December 1998 by-election that followed Rappolt's decision to quit parliament after six months. The latter contest was yet another showdown between Warren Pitt and Naomi Wilson, in which Pitt prevailed by just 0.6 per cent. This delivered a one-seat majority to what had previously been Peter Beattie's minority government. In 2001, Wilson tried her luck in Cairns and Pitt romped home in Mulgrave with 53.6 per cent of the primary vote, the Nationals again finishing third behind One Nation. The Nationals recovered 14.7 per cent from the decline of One Nation in 2004, and gained a further 5.4 per cent in a two-horse race in 2006, but have made little inroads into Labor's two-party margin.

Warren Pitt, who is in full remission after battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, announced in February he would not seek re-election. Labor's administrative committee promptly secured the succession for his son Curtis Pitt, who worked locally as a cinema manager before taking up a position in Brisbane with the Department of State Development in 2003, most recently working as leader of the government's Indigenous Jobs and Enterprises Taskforce. Liberal National Party candidate Vic Black was once a police officer in Britain, and according to the Cairns Post has “worked in the tourism industry and as a driving instructor in the Far North since 1992”.

Curtis Pitt has nominated under his full name: Curtis Warren Pitt, which will appear thus on the ballot paper.

PREDICTION: Labor retain