THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

MORNINGTON
Liberal 1.8%

Mornington covers fringe Melbourne bayside suburbs 50 kilometres south of the city, from Mount Eliza through Mornington to Mount Martha. An electorate bearing the name has covered shifting territory on the Mornington Peninsula since 1859; Labor has never won the seat, although a 10.0 per cent swing brought them very close in 2002. It last changed hands when the Liberals won it from the Country Party in 1947, and has been held since 1985 by Robin Cooper, who served as Transport Minister in the last two years of the Kennett government. Cooper announced his retirement in March 2005, and the subsequent preselection was won by David Morris (right), operator of a Mornington-based property maintenance and investment business and president of the Mornington shire in the early 1990s. Also mentioned as possible preselection contenders were Cameron Boardman, who lost his upper house seat of Chelsea in 2002, and Anne Shaw, a Mornington Peninsula councillor.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain