THE POLL BLUDGER
Western Australian Legislative Assembly Election 2008

DAWESVILLE
Liberal 1.7%
Upper house region: South West
Federal divisions: Canning/Brand
KIM HAMES
Liberal (top)

ROGER BLAKEWAY
Citizens Electoral Council

MIKE SUTTON-SMITH
Christian Democratic Party

REBECCA BROWN
Greens

ANDREW NEWHOUSE
Family First

MARION BLAIR
Labor (bottom)

Rapid growth in Mandurah required a second electorate to accommodate it in 1996, just 13 years after the creation of the first. Dawesville has since covered the higher income suburbs south of the Mandurah Estuary, from Halls Head south through Falcon to Dawesville itself. Due to the City of Mandurah's location outside the metropolitan area, the two seats have increased in size under the one-vote one-value redistribution. This has been achieved by extending Mandurah north into outer suburbs previously mopped up by Murray (now Murray-Wellington), with Dawesville creeping across the estuary to take in Labor-voting Dudley Park. This has reduced the Liberal margin from 4.1 per cent to 1.7 per cent, the lowest since the seat's creation.

Dawesville was held from 1996 to 2005 by Arthur Marshall, who had been member for Murray from 1993. The preselection which followed his retirement produced a one-vote victory for Kim Hames, who had been Housing, Aboriginal Affairs and Water Resources Minister in the last years of the Court government before losing his northern suburbs seat of Yokine in 2001. This was achieved without demur from then-Opposition Leader Colin Barnett, who had declared himself resistant to the return of defeated ex-members (specifically Graham Kierath and Doug Shave). The narrowly defeated preselection candidate, Mandurah councillor Vern Goff, contested the election as Nationals candidate but polled only 6.7 per cent.

Hames was immediately appointed Shadow Health Minister upon his return to parliament, and rose to the deputy leadership with the ascension of Troy Buswell in January 2008. At the height of the chair-sniffing saga in early May, Hames was said to be the favourite to assume the leadership if Buswell fell on his sword. However, he publicly opposed the unsuccessful spill motion initiated by backers of Capel MP Steve Thomas, whom the redistribution has left even more precariously placed than Hames (he will contest the notional Labor seat Collie-Preston).

Labor's candidate is Marion Blair, who served for 20 years on Belmont City Council.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain