THE POLL BLUDGER
Western Australian Legislative Assembly Election 2008

WANNEROO Labor 6.1%
Upper house region: North Metropolitan Federal division: Cowan
	PAUL MILES Liberal (bottom) MARY BIRCH Christian Democratic Party ROD GRASSO Family First DIANNE GUISE Labor (top) HEATHER AQUILINA Greens RUSSELL SEWELL Independent

Long established as a town site before suburbia caught up with it in the 1970s, Wanneroo was included in the outer northern metropolitan electorates of Whitford from 1977 and Joondalup from 1983. It became an electorate in its own right when Joondalup was abolished in 1989 (later to be re-created in 1996), with Labor's Jackie Watkins carrying over as Labor member. Watkins was one of many northern suburbs MPs to lose her seat with the Lawrence government's defeat in 1993, when a 2.9 per cent swing delivered victory to Liberal candidate Wayde Smith by 1.3 per cent. Smith lost preselection ahead of the 1996 election over his entanglement in the “Wanneroo Inc” affair, which eventually led to his imprisonment for perjury. The resulting Liberal nomination went to Iain MacLean, who had filled a North Metropolitan upper house vacancy upon the death of Bob Pike in 1994. MacLean held on to a narrow margin at the 1996 election before suffering a 10.3 per cent hit on his primary vote in 2001, turning into a 7.5 per cent two-party swing fuelled by One Nation's decision to direct preferences against most sitting members. The subsequent redistribution cut the margin from 5.9 per cent to 3.1 per cent by adding a large area of semi-rural outskirts, but Labor's hold was consolidated at the 2005 election by a 3.6 per cent swing. The one-vote one-value redistribution has transferred the outskirts to Mindarie, but the further loss of 2700 votes in Labor-leaning Landsdale to West Swan has resulted in another cut to the Labor margin, of 0.6 per cent.

Labor's member since 2001 has been Dianne Guise, a former president of the WA Council of State School Organisations and member of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union sub-faction of the Left. Guise has repeatedly been mentioned as a candidate to fill the cabinet vacancies that have appeared with undue frequency during the past term, each time emerging on the wrong end of factional arrangements. The Liberals have again nominated their candidate from 2005, Wanneroo councillor Paul Miles. An email leaked to The West Australian in June revealed that Iain MacLean had been preparing for a comeback, but withdrew because the “offensive and immature” behaviour of Troy Buswell had made it “obvious to blind Freddy” that he should not be leading the party.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain