The Poll Bludger - Australian State and Federal Elections

KIMBERLEY Labor 6.3%
Upper house region: Mining and Pastoral Federal division: Kalgoorlie
	ANNABELLE SANDES Greens JAMES OCKERBY Citizens Electoral Council JOHN McCOURT Nationals CAROL MARTIN Labor (top) RUTH WEBB-SMITH Liberal (bottom)

The electorate of Kimberley has covered the northernmost regions of Western Australia since 1904, when Kimberley East and Kimberley West (which had no more than a few dozen voters each) were merged. It has the state's highest proportion of indigenous persons, which the redistribution has increased from 33 per cent to 42 per cent through the addition of Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and surrounding Aboriginal communities. Kimberley was held by Labor from 1924 until 1968, when misplaced enthusiasm for the Brand government's pursuit of the Ord River project helped Keith Ridge win it for the Liberals. Ernie Bridge's recovery of the seat for Labor in 1980 made him the first of two Aborigines to have been elected to the state parliament so far, the second being his successor Carol Martin. Bridge held portfolios including agriculture and Aboriginal affairs in the Burke-Dowding-Lawrence government, but quit the party to sit as an independent in mid-1996. Labor sensibly declined to contest the seat in 1996 and Bridge was comfortably re-elected, going on to retire at the 2001 election.

The seat was then recovered for Labor by Carol Martin with a primary vote of 42.3 per cent and a two-party margin of 10.5 per cent. The redistribution ahead of the 2005 election transferred 1000 mostly Aboriginal voters around Fitzroy Crossing to the seat's southern neighbour (prompting its name change from Pilbara to Central Kimberley-Pilbara), which cut the margin to 8.5 per cent. The Liberals' campaign in 2005 was dominated by its audacious promise to solve Perth's water problems by building a 3700 kilometre canal from Kimberley's Fitzroy River, the announcement of which came as a surprise to their candidate Ron Sos Johnston. The Liberals picked up a strong 5.2 per cent swing, but Martin was nonetheless returned with a margin of 3.3 per cent. This has been boosted by 3.0 per cent as a result of the one-vote one-value redistribution, which has returned Fitzroy Crossing and further added the Shire of Halls Creek. Enrolment in the electorate is 16,232 against a state average of 21,350, due to the 6286-voter bonus resulting from the “large district allowance”.

The Liberal candidate is Ruth Webb-Smith, Ashburton pastoralist and vice-president of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of Western Australia.

As the campaign began it was still the stated intention of Shelley Archer, the upper house Mining and Pastoral MP dumped by the party for leaking information to Brian Burke, to run in Kimberley as an independent. However, she proved to be a non-starter when nominations closed. The region has been the focus of attention during the campaign as the proposed Western Australian site for the Inpex gas project, which might instead go to Darwin.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain