THE POLL BLUDGER
Western Australian Legislative Assembly Election 2008

BATEMAN Liberal 6.9%
Replaces abolished seat of Murdoch Upper house region: South Metropolitan Federal division: Tangney
	ANDREA CALLAGHAN Greens WON-SIK CHOI Independent KA-REN CHEW Christian Democratic Party TONY STOKES Labor (bottom) CHRISTIAN PORTER Liberal (top)

The new electorate of Bateman takes in the populous northern end of abolished Murdoch along with parts of Myaree and Booragoon, previously in Alfred Cove to the north-west. The name change was deemed appropriate because the suburb of Murdoch is now in the far south of the electorate, and the campus of the university bearing the name is across the South Street boundary in Jandakot. Murdoch had essentially existed since 1977, but was called Jandakot from 1989 to 1996. It was held for the Liberals by one-time leader Barry MacKinnon until 1993, by Court government minister Mike Board from 1993 to 2005, and then by former ABC sports commentator and WA league footballer Trevor Sprigg. Sprigg died suddenly on the morning of January 17, shortly before the party room met to confirm Troy Buswell's leadership takeover, and was succeeded by Christian Porter after a by-election on February 23. A former University of Western Australia law lecturer and Director of Public Prosecutions lawyer, Porter is the grandson of Charles Robert Porter (who locked horns with Joh Bjelke-Petersen as a Queensland Liberal MP in the 1970s) and the son of Charles “Chilla” Porter (a former state party director). He was earlier discussed with some frequency as a possible successor to Colin Barnett in Cottesloe.

Shortly before his death, Sprigg had been prevailed upon to stand for the other seat created by the abolition of Murdoch, notionally Labor Jandakot, to make Bateman available for 33-year-old lawyer Anthony Jarvis. However, Jarvis was not a preselection starter when Sprigg died, and Porter instead squared off against Graham Kierath, the Court government Workplace Relations Minister who lost Riverton in 2001 and unsuccessfully contested Alfred Cove in 2005. Labor did not field a candidate at the by-election, which Porter won with 62.8 per cent of the primary vote against 26.3 per cent for the Greens, receiving 69.4 per cent after preferences. He was immediately appointed Shadow Attorney-General in place of Nedlands MP Sue Walker, who quit the party to sit as an independent, and barely six weeks later was named by Paul Omodei as a viable replacement for Troy Buswell.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain