QUEENSLAND ELECTION 2009

WHITSUNDAY Labor 0.4%
Region: Central Coast Federal divisions: Dawson/Capricornia
	JAN JARRATT Labor (top) AUSTIN LUND Greens PAUL JOICE Liberal National (bottom)

Whitsunday covers about 130 kilometres of the central coast from just north of Mackay to just south of Bowen. Nationals-voting booths in Prosperine and smaller rural towns are balanced by areas of Labor strength in the northern outskirts of Mackay, though the entire region swung savagely against the Nationals when De-Anne Kelly was defeated in Dawson at the federal election. The redistribution has done Labor member Jan Jarratt a poor turn by transferring 5300 voters in and around Bowen (which returned the only Communist Party parliamentarian in Australia's history in 1943) to Burdekin in the north, while adding 6500 voters from a marginal area inland of Mackay from Mirani in the south. This has reduced the margin from 4.4 per cent to 0.4 per cent.

The National/Country Party held Whitsunday from its creation in 1950 until the election of the Goss government in 1989, when Lorraine Bird won it for Labor. It was one of 11 seats won in 1998 by One Nation, whose candidate Harry Black narrowly pipped the Nationals for second place and secured a 1.7 per cent win on over Bird on their preferences. Black quit One Nation in December 1999 and went into the 2001 election as a member of the City-Country Alliance. This produced an even split of votes between Black and One Nation and an easy victory for Labor, whose candidate Jan Jarratt prevailed over the Nationals by a two-party margin of 9.4 per cent. The Nationals' chances of a comeback in 2004 were thwarted a week out from polling day when it emerged that their candidate, Dan van Blarcom, had been involved with neo-fascist groups in the early 1970s. This led to his disendorsement, though it occurred too late for the ballot paper to be amended. Van Blarcom finished third behind Harry Black, who was running this time as an independent. The consolidation of the previously scattered conservative vote behind the Nationals in 2006 helped reduce Labor's two-party margin from 14.8 per cent to 4.4 per cent.

A member of the Labor Unity (Centre) faction, Jan Jarratt has been a parliamentary secretary since the 2006 election, currently serving in tourism, regional development and industry. The Liberal National Party has nominated the Nationals candidate from 2006, Proserpine doctor Paul Joice.

Both leaders were at Airlie Beach on the first weekend of the campaign making locally targeted election commitments. Anna Bligh promised $4 million for an upgrade of the Whitsunday Coast Airport near Proserpine, shortly after being beset by protesters angered by a lack of progress on the long-running issue. The Australian reported that this earned the wrath of a local developer who backed the alternative proposal for a new airport at Laguna Quays. The Daily Mercury reported that Springborg promised “a fistful of $12 million for the tourism industry, the promise of a $400,000 boat ramp at Constant Creek and a $250,000 expansion of the Rural Skills Centre in Sarina”.

PREDICTION: LIBERAL NATIONAL GAIN