THE POLL BLUDGER
South Australian House of Assembly Election 2006

WEST TORRENS
Labor 8.9%

West Torrens was renamed from Peake in 2002, and has existed on and off since before federation. It currently takes in the suburbs adjacent to Adelaide Airport, including the coastal suburb of West Beach (where the Liberals won the booth in 2002), plus a north-eastern appendix abutting the CBD that includes Thebarton and Mile End. Peake was won by Labor at every election after its creation in 1970 except for the Liberal landslide of 1993, when it fell to Heini Becker who retired after one term. Tom Koutsantonis (left), who was then 26, won the seat back for Labor at the 1997 election with a 12.0 per cent swing, and picked up a further 4.1 per cent swing in 2002. Koutsantonis is linked to Michael Atkinson, powerbroker of the religious wing of the Right faction, and was the state party president from 2003 to 2005. The Liberal candidate is TAFE project officer and West Torrens councillor Emilio Costanzo (right), who raised eyebrows just before Christmas 2005 when he pre-empted the release of the Liberals' tax policy to advocate abolition of stamp duty and a petrol tax rebate funded from GST revenue. The Weekly Times Messenger reported in February 2005 that West Torrens mayor John Trainer, former Labor member for the abolished seat of Walsh and independent candidate for Ashford in 1997, was not ruling out running as an independent.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain

West Torrens produced an almost perfectly typical result for Adelaide with a 9.4 per cent two-party swing, a 10.8 per cent increase in the Labor primary vote and an 8.6 per cent slump for Liberal (compared with averages of 9.2 per cent, 10.0 per cent and 7.8 per cent). The West Beach booth joined in the fun this time, delivering a 6.7 per cent Labor majority after a fairly typical swing.

OUTCOME: Labor retain (18.3%)