THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

KEW
Liberal 6.0%

Kew covers blue-ribbon territory in Melbourne's inner east, from Kew east to Balwyn with the Yarra River as its northern boundary. The seat has been held by the Liberal Party and its predecessors since its creation in 1927. The retirements of Kennett government Attorney-General Jan Wade in Kew and Treasurer Alan Stockdale in Brighton at the 1999 election generated an interconnected preselection struggle between the Kennett and Costello-Kroger camps, who respectively wished for Small Business and Tourism Minister Louise Asher (then member for the upper house province of Monash) and Costello adviser Mitch Fifield to succeed Stockdale in Brighton. The Costello camp wished for Asher to leave Brighton for Fifield by taking Kew instead, but the Kennett forces achieved a double victory by locking out Fifield (who eventually became a Senator in March 2004) and securing Kew for Andrew McIntosh (right) at the expense of two Costello-Kroger candidates: first Kevin Donnelly, who withdrew, and then Sally-Anne Venables, who lost the preselection vote. After his election, McIntosh rose to a parliamentary secretary position in September 2001 and was twice promoted the following year, to Shadow Industrial Relations Minister in March and Shadow Attorney-General after the November 30 election defeat.

Locals have been angered by the government's approval of a housing and apartment development at Kew Cottages, a historic site that currently houses a facility for 380 people with intellectual disabilities. This will involve the demolition of three buildings that were put on the heritage register in 2004, resulting in what Andrew McIntosh described as a "high-rise, high-density" development. It will also net the Victorian government a windfall of $80 million. Opponents are calling for the land to instead be used to extend public parks.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain