THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

ESSENDON
Labor 15.9%

Essendon is an elongated north-south electorate with Moonee Ponds Creek as its eastern border, extending from Ascot Vale north to Strathmore Heights. It was created in 1904 and was a hotly contested marginal seat until Labor established ascendancy from 1979. Their only defeat since came with the 1992 disaster, by a margin of 1.2 per cent. Judy Maddigan (left) recovered the seat for Labor with a 4.6 per cent swing in 1996 and was switfly promoted to parliamentary secretary positions. She became Deputy Speaker when the Bracks government came to power in 1999, and went one better following the 2002 election. Maddigan said in January 2006 that the coming term would be her last, and that she would not be seeking another term as Speaker or a position as minister. In October 2005 Farrah Tomazin of The Age reported that "some sources" said "right-wingers" proposed backing Consumer Affairs Minister Marsha Thomson to replace Maddigan in Essendon, to resolve problems caused by the cut in upper house numbers. In the event, a place for Thomson was found in Footscray and Maddigan was preselected unopposed. Conrad D'Souza (right) is a toxicologist and "director of a quality assurance biomedical company"; this is his third tilt at an unwinnable seat this decade, having contested Footscray at the 2002 state election and Maribyrnong at the 2004 federal election.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain