THE POLL BLUDGER
Western Australian Legislative Assembly Election 2008

MINDARIE Labor 6.9%
Upper house region: North Metropolitan Federal division: Pearce
	JOHANNES HERRMANN Greens JOHN QUIGLEY Labor (top) DANIEL STOREY Family First AMANDA VARLEY Christian Democratic Party MURRAY McLENNAN Liberal

Mindarie was created at the 2005 election to accommodate Perth's rapidly sprawling outer northern coastal suburbs. Upon creation it consisted of two distinct halves separated by undeveloped Tamala Park – Currambine and Ocean Reef in the south (previously in Joondalup), and Quinns Rock, Mindarie and Clarkson in the north (from Wanneroo). The seat was contested for Labor by John Quigley, previously member for abolished Innaloo further to the south, who gained a 2.8 per cent swing to retain the seat with a 4.0 per cent two-party margin. Mindarie has been dramatically redrawn with the one-vote one-value redistribution, losing the southern end to newly created Ocean Reef and gaining the semi-rural outskirts of the metropolitan area from Wanneroo, extending from Jindalee north to Two Rocks along the coast and inland to Yanchep and Pinjar. The changes have boosted Quigley's margin a handy 2.9 per cent, although such projections are to be treated with caution in an area where the population increased from 25,427 to 37,964 between the 2001 and 2006 censuses.

John Quigley came to politics with a high profile as lawyer for the Police Union, winning a series of cases on behalf of officers appearing before the Anti-Corruption Commission. He won preselection for Innaloo in 1999 over Transport Department officer Barbara Webster by one vote, having won support from the established Right faction including his former legal client Brian Burke. When Innaloo was abolished at the redistribution ahead of the 2005 election, Quigley was able to secure cross-factional support in his bid for the marginal new seat of Mindarie. He has at all times been factionally unaligned, developing a reputation as a maverick through such actions as his use of parliamentary privilege in 2007 to expose protected police witnesses at the inquiry into Andrew Mallard's wrongful murder conviction (prompting the Police Union to revoke his life membership). In the previous term he was at the centre of a furious row with The West Australian, claiming editor Paul Armstrong threatened to “wage a war” against him unless he apologised for criticising a report that he had been let off with a caution for minor driving offences. In 2005 Quigley was diganosed with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of skin cancer.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain