THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

MACEDON
Labor 9.3%

Macedon is centred roughly 50 kilometres due north of the city, extending from the Melbourne satellite town of Sunbury through Gisborne and Woodend out to Sidonia. It was created at the 2002 election upon the abolition of Gisborne, which had been held by the Liberal Party from its creation in 1967 (the member from 1971 to 1979 was Athol Guy from The Seekers) until it was dramatically won by Labor at the 1999 election, thwarting Health Minister and leadership aspirant Rob Knowles' bid to transfer from the upper house. Labor's Joanne Duncan (left), a school teacher who gained endorsement with the support of the Socialist Left faction, won the seat by 1.6 per cent following a swing of 9.4 per cent. Macedon had a notional Liberal margin of 0.4 per cent upon its creation, but Duncan impressively managed a further 9.6 per swing at the 2002 election. The defeated Liberal candidate on that occasion was Bernie Finn, who had held the seat of Tullamarine from 1992 until his defeat in 1999. This time they have nominated Roybne Head (right), a former mayor of Gisborne. Other candidates include independent Jack Medcraft, former Hume councillor and highly vocal president of People Against Lenient Sentencing; and Macedon Ranges councillor Rob Guthrie, running with People Power.

Among the independent candidates fielded against Joanne Duncan is Dave Barry, a Sunbury police officer unhappy with understaffing at Sunbury area police stations. In week three of the campaign, Wayne Flower of the Herald-Sun reported that Barry rang 3AW to tackle Steve Bracks over the issue, claiming "numbers were being distorted by inner-city stations, which had retained higher police numbers despite a downward trend in crime figures".

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain