Industrial heartland's not the sure thing it used to be - NSW DECIDES: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Imre Salusinszky, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 Mar 2007: 7.
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Abstract
The seat where Labor haemorrhaged least dramatically was Swansea. Robert Coombs, a Sydney union official who grew up in the area, will retain the seat with a majority of about 10 per cent, down from the 17 per cent bequeathed him by Mr [Milton Orkopoulos]. "The message that I got ... is that they were not prepared to punish the party," Mr Coombs said.
Ms [Jodi McKay] was picked by Morris Iemma to replace Bryce Gaudry, who had held the seat since 1991. He quit the party earlier this year and ran as an independent. The decision to impose Ms McKay as the candidate in a push for generational change was the biggest issue in the campaign. There were resignations in local branches over the refusal to consult the rank and file.
BUSINESSWOMAN and former television reporter Jodi McKay appeared last night to have narrowly staved off an historic loss for Labor in the heartland seat of Newcastle.
There were similar tight contests in the surrounding once-safe ALP seats, with local criticism that Labor had taken the Hunter Valley area for granted.
Lake Macquarie faced a cliffhanger with Mayor Greg Piper running as an independent, as did Maitland with Mayor Peter Blackmore. Until now, Newcastle's industrial heritage ensured it stayed in Labor's hands for all but one term since 1907.
The closure of the BHP steelworks and the modernisation of the city, as well as a drift of middle-class retirees and young professionals from Sydney, have changed the dynamics of the electorate.
Ms McKay, 37, represented a modern face for Labor: unmarried, childless and with a business background. On his trip to Newcastle last Friday, federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said her greatest strength was that she was a "voice for the future and a voice for government for the future".
Ms McKay was picked by Morris Iemma to replace Bryce Gaudry, who had held the seat since 1991. He quit the party earlier this year and ran as an independent. The decision to impose Ms McKay as the candidate in a push for generational change was the biggest issue in the campaign. There were resignations in local branches over the refusal to consult the rank and file.
"The party is determined to shift our representation up there to more broadly represent the Hunter Valley," a Labor source said. "Out of the seven Labor candidates ... five of them were new candidates."
He said this was particularly true given the scandal that had enveloped the party when Swansea member and then Aboriginal affairs minister Milton Orkopoulos was last November charged with child sex offences.
Mr Rudd would not comment yesterday on a plan to install ACTU secretary Greg Combet in the federal Hunter Valley seat of Charlton, first reported in TheAustralian a fortnight ago.
Deputy leader Julia Gillard also refused to confirm the reports but said Mr Combet was working hard for families hurt by the federal Work Choices laws.
"Mr Combet is a great asset to the labour movement," she said. "If he chose at some point to come into parliament, he would be a great asset to the party."
Based on early results, Ms McKay appeared to have won 31per cent of the Newcastle vote, Mr Gaudry 21 per cent and independent Mayor John Tate, who was directing preferences to Labor, 24 per cent.
The seat where Labor haemorrhaged least dramatically was Swansea. Robert Coombs, a Sydney union official who grew up in the area, will retain the seat with a majority of about 10 per cent, down from the 17 per cent bequeathed him by Mr Orkopoulos. "The message that I got ... is that they were not prepared to punish the party," Mr Coombs said.
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