THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

PASCOE VALE
Labor 24.2%

Pascoe Vale is located in Melbourne's inner north, from Coburg out to Hadfield and Oak Park. The seat was created in 1985 and has always been safe for Labor; it was held from 1988 to 1996 by Kelvin Thomson, who subsequently became the federal member for Wills, and subsequently by Christine Campbell (right). Campbell had worked as Thomson's electorate officer and previously for the union that forms his power base, the Right faction Shop Distributive and Allied Union. She was immediately elevated to the front bench, holding the family services and women's affairs portfolios until February 1999 and community services thereafter. The latter portfolio was carried over into government, and ultimately brought her to grief when it emerged a youth refuge funded by her department was supervising teenagers while they sniffed paint as a harm minimisation strategy. She was consequently demoted to the aged portfolio, and dropped altogether after the 2002 election. The Liberal candidate is maths and science teacher Claude Tomisich.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain