THE POLL BLUDGER
Victorian Legislative Assembly Election 2006

SCORESBY
Liberal 3.3%

Scoresby covers suburbs in Melbourne's outer east, from Wheelers Hill east to Knoxfield and Rowville north to Wantirna South. It was created at the 2002 election upon the abolition of Wantirna, which was held by Labor from 1985 to 1992 but was otherwise in Liberal hands from its creation in 1976. Kim Wells (right) assumed the new seat after previously holding Wantirna, which he won in 1992 from Labor member Carolyn Hirsh (who returned to parliament in 2002 as member for the upper house province of Silvan, and now sits as an independent following a drink driving incident). Wells has handled the important police portfolio since 2000, but nonetheless faced an aggressive preselection challenge last year from former Young Liberal president Michael Gidley, which led to claims of branch stacking from both sides and a six-month suspension of the Scoresby branch due to "dysfunctional behaviour". Paul Austin of The Age reported that the "Young Turks" marshalling support for Gidley in local branches had promoted themselves as loyalists of then-leader Robert Doyle and state party president Helen Kroger, who sought to oust Wells (who is aligned with the rival faction identified with Jeff Kennett) due to his insufficient loyalty to Doyle. Doyle and Kroger in fact went to great lengths to distance themselves from Gidley's supporters and reiterated their backing of Wells, but their capacity to give effect to this support emerged as a litmus test for MPs insecure about their own endorsements, with direct implications for their confidence in Doyle's leadership. Gidley ultimately agreed to withdraw when offered backing for the Mount Waverley preselection by Doyle, Kroger and Wells himself. Also challenging Wells's preselection was advertising executive Jeremy Furness, who was also persuaded to withdraw.

The electorate covers a large portion of the northern end of the EastLink route, a project that is still sometimes referred to as the Scoresby freeway. The Bracks government's single most contentious action in its second term was its April 2003 decision to fund the road by imposing tolls, going against its promise at the 2002 election. Opposition Leader Robert Doyle sought to capitalise on the resulting outrage with his October 2004 promise to buy back the contract so that tolls could be removed, an obviously unaffordable proposal that succeeded only in taking some of the heat off the government. In September 2005 Doyle conceded the policy was