THE POLL BLUDGER
Western Australian Legislative Assembly Election 2008

HILLARYS Liberal 3.6%
Upper house region: North Metropolitan Federal division: Moore
	MOYNA RAPP Family First ROB JOHNSON Liberal (top) NORMAN HENLEY Christian Democratic Party KYM ENDERSBY Labor (bottom) BARRY REDHEAD Greens

Located 20 kilometres north of the city, the coastal seat of Hillarys was created at the 1996 election in place of abolished Whitford, which had been progressively shrinking since its creation as a semi-rural seat in 1977 (locals might be amused to learn the area was previously covered by Toodyay). Whitford spent its short life as a bellwether seat, changing hands from Liberal to Labor with the election of the Burke government in 1983 and back again when Richard Court came to power in 1993. The victor on the latter occasion was Rob Johnson, who progressed to the safer new seat of Hillarys when Whitford was abolished. Johnson held the seat in 2001 in the face of a 13.2 per cent slump in the Liberal primary vote, possibly being saved by One Nation's decision to exempt him and three others from their decision to direct preferences against all sitting members. The electorate has emerged from the one-vote one-value redistribution with its identity intact: it loses a small part of Duncraig and all of coastal Marmion to Carine in the south and part of Kallaroo to Ocean Reef in the north, cutting the Liberal margin by 0.6 per cent.

A former mayor of the London borough of Sutton, Rob Johnson has kept his English accent since moving to Perth in 1988. He came to be associated with the now fractured Noel Crichton-Browne faction, and rose to the ministry in the last 14 months of the Court government as Works and Services Minister. In opposition he emerged as one of the livelier figures of the Liberal front-bench, gaining considerable publicity in the high-profile police and justice portfolios. Johnson's propensity to cause trouble for his leaders became evident during Colin Barnett's tenure, when he abandoned the job of leader of opposition business in the Assembly rather than work with Barnett chief-of-staff Richard Ellis. When the vote of Troy Buswell allowed Paul Omodei to topple Matt Birney in March 2006, Johnson said of Buswell: “His cowardly and gutless disloyalty will be the start of his demise and I think you will find the shining star of Troy Buswell will diminish over the coming months. Let me tell you, if he is the future of the Liberal Party then God help the Liberal Party.” Johnson made what he knew to be a futile gesture in nominating against Buswell when Omodei stood aside rather than face defeat, reportedly attracting 10 votes to Buswell's 17. It was widely suspected he was the source for the Sunday Times' April expose of Buswell's chair-sniffing activities, despite his strong denials, but moves against his preselection foundered through lack of proof. Johnson remained on the front bench until June 2008, when he was dumped after threatening to resign unless South Perth MP John McGrath was sacked for moving a parliamentary motion provided to him by Brian Burke.

ASSESSMENT: Liberal retain