QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

SUNNYBANK Labor 14.8%
Region: Southern Brisbane Federal divisions: Moreton/Oxley
	JUDY SPENCE Labor (top) BRUCE ROLAND SPIERS Independent MARIE JACKSON Liberal National (bottom) MATTHEW RYAN-SYKES Greens G. PETER FLAWS Independent

Sunnybank is effectively the successor to abolished Mount Gravatt, from which it takes 48 per cent of its voters (in Sunnybank, Robertson and Runcorn in the electorate's south). The remainder comes from four different electorates: Algester (7300 voters at Acacia Ridge in the south-west), Stretton (3000 voters at Sunnybank South in the south-east), Yeerongpilly (3100 voters at Archerfield and Coopers Plains in the north-west) and Mansfield (1600 voters at Macgregor in the east). Sunnybank previously existed as an electorate between 1992 and 2001, when most of its area was absorbed within Stretton. Stephen Robertson held Sunnybank for Labor throughout this period, and has since been member for Stretton. Mount Gravatt had been held by Labor from its creation in 1950 until 1957, then by the Liberals until 1983, then by the Nationals until 1989, and thereafter by Labor's Judy Spence.

Judy Spence served as Community Services Minister in the period when the Goss government maintained a shaky hold on power between the 1995 election and the 1996 Mundingburra by-election defeat, and maintained the portfolio in both opposition and government up to the 2001 election. She then became Family and Disability Services Minister, in which she dealt with the issue of foster child abuse that dogged the Beattie government in late 2003. After the 2004 election she moved to police and corrective services, to which sport was added in September 2007. Spence was a stalwart of the Left faction earlier in her career but defected to Labor Unity shortly after the 2001 election, which the Courier-Mail has variously put down to her desire to secure her position in cabinet and “clashes” with Left ministers including Anna Bligh. There was talk of the Left exacting revenge last year when the redistribution abolished Mount Gravatt and left Spence seeking refuge in Sunnybank, after early expectations she might announce her retirement. Steven Wardill of the Courier-Mail reported at the time that the Left believed they had the numbers, but Spence was able to see off the threat with the backing of Bligh.

PREDICTION: Labor retain