THE POLL BLUDGER
Western Australian Legislative Assembly Election 2008

WARNBRO Labor 11.2%
Replaces abolished seat of Peel Upper house region: South Metropolitan Federal division: Brand
	PAUL PAPALIA Labor (top) COLIN BOOTH Greens MATT POLLOCK Family First SHANE BATHGATE Liberal

The southernmost of the metropolitan electorates, Warnrbo is a truncated version of abolished Peel, which extended north beyond Safety Bay Road to the edge of the Kwinana town centre. The new electorate maintains Peel's coastline area from Warnbro south through Port Kennedy and Secret Harbour to Singleton, but extends inland only as far north as Baldivis. It also covers the presently uninhabited Keralup, which the government has earmarked for a new satellite city it optimistically hopes will house 90,000 people by 2011.

Peel was held by former Australian Meat Industry Employees Union official Norm Marlborough from its creation in 1989 until November 2006, when his career came crashing down amid sensational revalations of his dealings with Brian Burke. Geoff Gallop had earlier kept Marlborough out of his cabinet as part of a ban on ministerial dealings with Burke, denying his “old Right” faction the cabinet post its numbers would ordinarily have demanded. Alan Carpenter began his premiership in January 2006 with an ill-advised relaxation of the ban, appointing Marlborough to cabinet as Small Business Minister. Nine months later, the Corruption and Crime Commission unveiled recordings from a secret mobile phone Marlborough had kept at Burke's direction exclusively for communications between the two. These made clear that Marlborough had taken directions from Burke regarding a board appointment, resulting in the immediate loss of his ministerial post and eventually to a finding of misconduct by the CCC.

Marlborough's subsequent resignation triggered a by-election for Peel, which was held on 3 February 2007. This produced a morale-boosting result for the apparently beleagured Carpenter government, with Labor easily retaining the seat on the back of a rare pro-government swing. Their winning candidate was Paul Papalia, a counter-terrorism expert and decorated former navy diver who served in Iraq during the 2003 war and as part of the United Nations weapons inspection regime in 1992 and 1993. Graham Mason of The West Australian reported that Alan Carpenter's support secured Papalia a narrow victory in the state party administrative committee's preselection vote, defeating the Left-backed Pamela Kay. Kwinana mayor and Police Union solicitor Carol Adams had earlier been mentioned as the front-runner, and more recently sought preselection for Kwinana.

ASSESSMENT: Labor retain