QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

NUDGEE Labor 17.8%
Region: Northern Brisbane Federal division: Lilley
	MICHAEL PALMER Liberal National (bottom) NOEL CLOTHIER Greens NEIL ROBERTS Labor (top) CENTAINE FRANCIS Family First DOUGLAS CROWHURST Independent

Nudgee is located about 10 kilometres north of the city, immediately to the north of the airport. It runs from Toombul north through Virginia to Boondall, and from Chermside east to Nudgee Beach. The electorate was created at the 1960 election as a result of post-war suburban growth and has always been safe for Labor, surviving even the 1974 bloodbath. The members have been John Melloy (1960 to 1977), Ken Vaughan (1977 to 1995) and Neil Roberts (1995 to present).

A former industrial advocate for the Electrical Trades Union, Roberts completed a gruelling journey to cabinet in July 2007 when he filled the vacancy in emergency services created by the resignation of Bulimba MP Pat Purcell. He had successively been overlooked in favour of Kawana MP Chris Cummins after the 2004 election, when Peter Beattie insisted his own Labor Unity faction provide a cabinet representative from the Sunshine Coast; Bulimba MP Pat Purcell in mid-2005, after the faction embarrassingly rebuffed Beattie by backing Purcell over Roberts; Mackay MP Tim Mulherin in December 2005, following Gordon Nuttall's resignation; and Mount Coot-tha MP Andrew Fraser, who filled a factional vacancy created by Cummins' defeat in Kawana at the 2006 election.

The Liberal National Party has contentiously nominated Michael Palmer, the 18-year-old son of litigious mining billionaire and party benefactor Clive Palmer.

PREDICTION: Labor retain