THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

CRANBOURNE
Labor 10.8%

The electorate of Cranbourne extends from the inland edge of the coastal centre of Frankston to take in Carrum Downs and Cranbourne itself, a satellite town some 40 kilometres south-east of the CBD. It was notionally Labor upon its creation at the 1992 election, but a 9.1 per cent swing delivered it to Liberal candidate Gary Rowe. Labor won the seat for the first time as part of the 2002 wipeout when a 9.4 per cent swing saw Sri Lankan-born Jude Perera (left) defeat Rowe on his second attempt. A former software developer and market researcher, Perera is associated with the Socialist Left faction, and easily survived a challenge to his preselection from factionally unaligned Greater Dandenong councillor Paul Donovan. Perera came under fire in October when a female employee claimed he had called her a "nutter" when she complained his electorate officer was sexually harassing her. The Liberal candidate is 28-year-old teacher Luke Martin (right).

In the second last week of the campaign, Glenn Osborne of the Cranbourne Leader provided a useful summary of the public transport auction for this area, in which the Liberals appear to be placing the higher bids: "The Liberals have offered a $6 million rail link to Cranbourne East, and while Labor has not committed to that project, it has promised a $25 million upgrade of the Dandenong rail corridor to improve service frequency on the Cranbourne and Berwick-Pakenham lines. The Liberals also promised to build a rail overpass or underpass at Clyde Rd and duplicate the missing 900m stretch between Kangan Drive and Berwick for $25 million. Labor says it can’t be done at that price and has instead pledged to upgrade the intersection with lights at Enterprise Ave. Labor also says it will provide extra bus services for Cranbourne and Narre Warren. Casey residents, with high numbers of under-driving age residents, would benefit from the increased frequency of buses from Frankston to Cranbourne West (route 791), Berwick to Narre Warren circle (route 840) and Cranbourne to Narre Warren South (route 841)". Also on the table is a promise from Labor to spent $21 million on an extension to Cranbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain