Leading lady takes a fighting swing

PERHAPS not quite a shot in the dark, but certainly a long ball.

leading lady

PERHAPS not quite a shot in the dark, but certainly a long ball.

Kristina Keneally yesterday took her campaign bus out of the heartland and into the marginal Labor-held seat of Wyong on the NSW Central Coast.

Wyong has always been Labor's - but not by much. It was won by the incumbent, David Harris, with a margin of 6.9 per cent in 2007.

Mr Harris says he's a man no one should take for granted, but he knows it will take more than a lucky strike to win this match.

"Certainly, I'm fighting like I'm behind. I'm just under 7 per cent (margin), and if you believe the polls I'm not going to win; but talking to the locals around here - they recognise my effort," he says.

It's far from clear why Labor is devoting its leading lady to campaigning in such a marginal seat. Perhaps buoyed by unexpected wins in the nearby federal seats of Dobell and Robertson last year, the party is hoping for a successful Hail Mary pass. Mr Harris claims it's a tribute to his efforts in the community.

"If people look around and are prepared to judge me on what I'm delivering locally, then I will be re-elected," he says. "If they look a bit wider and they are unhappy with the Labor brand as a whole, well, you can't do anything about that."

Mr Harris says Labor's flagging image is his and the party's biggest problem, but he says being a member of a political party means taking the good with the bad.

The Premier clearly feels the good in Wyong is worth the effort.

"All the seats we hold are worth fighting for, even a few where we are are certainly not the favourites," she said. Ms Keneally refused to speculate on the outcome of the Wyong contest.

Wyong has a high proportion of families with children and retirees; it has the third-lowest number of working residents aged 24-65, at 48.3 per cent. The area also ranks poorly on tertiary education achievement, and has a high number of single-parent families.

Touring the seat yesterday, Ms Keneally announced Labor's consumer protection policy, including plans to name and shame online traders who took advantage of NSW buyers. She also announced plans to increase protection for long-term caravan park and retirement village residents, to a mixed reception.

Mr Harris's chief opponent is the Liberal's Darren Webber, who grew up in the area and built a small business doing home-theatre installations.

Mr Webber, an electrician by trade who has lived on the Central Coast all his life, is campaigning on what he claims is Labor's failure to improve health and other local services.

"Wyong's been forgotten for too long. It's time we get services back here," he said yesterday.