THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

RICHMOND
Labor 3.1% versus Greens

With the Yarra as its southern boundary, the electorate of Richmond extends from Richmond itself north to Clifton Hill and Fitzroy. The seat has had an uninterrupted existence going back to 1856, and was first won by Labor in 1891. Labor has held it continuously since 1908, barring a three-year DLP interruption following the split of 1955. Only with the rise of the Greens at the 2002 election was Labor's hold put in danger; their candidate Gemma Pinnell easily outpolled the Liberal candidate (28.6 per cent to 19.8 per cent) and came within 3.1 per cent of victory after distribution of preferences. While the two-party margin was closer in Melbourne, Richmond gave the Greens the higher primary vote.

A former Melbourne Lord Mayor and staffer to MPs including Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe, Dick Wynne (left) came to the seat in 1999 after Demetri Dollis was dumped following an outcry over the amount of time he was spending in Greece, where he was rumoured to be seeking a position with the Department for Greeks Abroad. Wynne was appointed parliamentary secretary for justice immediately afterwards, and was shifted to the cabinet secretary position after the 2002 election. Ewin Hannan and Gabrielle Costa of The Age reported that there was indecision in the Socialist Left faction over whether to back Wynne or John Pandazopoulos for the faction's sixth and final cabinet vacancy, and that Steve Bracks had wanted them to choose Wynne. When it emerged that Bracks had agreed for the faction to increase its representation to seven after the coming election, it was reported that the main candidates were Wynne and Mulgrave MP Daniel Andrews.

The Greens have nominated Gurm Sekhon (centre), a Yarra councillor and project manager for the Brotherhood of St Laurence, who has previously been a candidate at one federal and two state elections. The Liberals initially had a colourful candidate in the person of Prodos Marinakis, long-haired former communist and dogmatic convert to the cause of the right, who was the only person to nominate. The party administration professed concern that Marinakis might prove a loose cannon prone to impolitic pronouncements, and substituted him with Philippine Trade Centre chairman Maina Walkley (right).

The government has ruffled feathers by approving two contentious high-rise developments in the electorate: a retail and apartment block in Smith Street, Collingwood, which will include three towers of between five and seven storeys, and an 11-storey development on the bank of the Yarra in Richmond.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain