The Poll Bludger - Australian State and Federal Elections

GIRRAWHEEN Labor 19.2%
Upper house region: North Metropolitan Federal divisions: Stirling/Cowan
	JOHN HALLIGAN Liberal MARGARET QUIRK Labor (top) TAMARA DESIATOV Greens

Girrawheen is located on the low-income eastern side of the northern suburbs faultline marked by the Mitchell Freeway. Created at the 1996 election in place of abolished Marangaroo (itself created in 1989 in place of Balga), it has been substantially redrawn by the one-vote one-value redistribution: the eastern half beyond Mirrabooka Avenue has been hived off to the new electorate of Nollamara, and it gains the more affluent Warwick and Hamersley on the western side of Wanneroo Road, cutting 4.2 per cent from the Labor margin. This area formed the earliest power base for Brian Burke, who variously held Balga and Balcatta through a parliamentary career lasting from 1973 to 1988. Ted Cunningham succeeded Burke as member for Balga at a by-election after his retirement in 1988, going on to hold Marangaroo and Girrawheen before retiring at the February 2001 election. His departure initiated a fateful split in the Right faction as Cunningham and his allies succeeded in installing Margaret Quirk in Girrawheen and John D'Orazio in Ballajura, against the opposition of those aligned with Brian Burke. The latter included Transport Workers Union secretary Jim McGiveron, who registered his displeasure with the 61-year-old Cunningham by breaking two of his teeth. Those on Cunningham's side of the dispute, including Stephen Smith and Midland MP Michelle Roberts, broke off to form the “New Right” faction, until recently a powerful force in the state party.

Margaret Quirk would eventually win the disputed preselection unopposed after a South Metropolitan region upper house seat was made available to her rival, Shop Assistants Union official Kate Doust. A former lawyer for the National Crime Authority, Quirk won promotion to parliamentary secretary in June 2003, but then had to contend with a second attempt on her seat by Burke's “Old Right” faction. Their efforts to have Quirk dumped in favour of Wanneroo mayor Jon Kelly initiated a chain of events which ended with the party's national executive intervening to defend the preselection of all sitting members. Kelly ran against Quirk as an independent, managing third place with 15.4 per cent of the vote against Quirk's 52.3 per cent. In November 2005 Quirk was promoted to cabinet in the disability services portfolio, the New Right and AMWU Left having agreed to back her over LHMWU Left aspirant Sue Ellery. She was further promoted to Justice Minister with the demise of her New Right colleague John D'Orazio in May 2006 (the name of the portfolio was changed to corrective services later in the month), and further gained small business when Norm Marlborough's short but eventful ministerial career ended the following November. However, the recent eclipse of her faction, and in particular her opposition to Alan Carpenter's move to install Reece Whitby and Karen Brown in Morley and Mount Lawley, has prompted speculation about the security of her tenure post-election.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain