NSW State Election 2011: Drummoyne
Electorate: Drummoyne
Margin: Labor 7.6%
Region: Inner Western Sydney
Federal: Reid
Outgoing member: Angela D’Amore (Labor)
Click here for NSW Electoral Commission map
The candidates
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MARC GESLING
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Electorate analysis: Drummoyne covers the south shore of the harbour to the west of the city, from Drummoyne itself through Canada Bay to Concord and Homebush. It was last held by the Liberals in 1953, and has been in Labor hands since 1962. Former Nurses Association official Angela D’Amore succeeded John Murray as member in 2003 with the backing of the Right, which secured her preselection through the controversial “N40” rule that allows the Right-controlled administrative committee to determine half the vote. D’Amore evidently failed to win over local members after her election: before the 2007 election she again relied on central party intervention to secure preselection, inspiring the party’s Drummoyne, Concord and Five Dock branches to pass motions of no-confidence against her.
She nonetheless won promotion to parliamentary secretary when Nathan Rees assumed the leadership in September 2008, but was sacked in December 2010 after the Independent Commission Against Corruption found she had rorted the parliamentary relief payment system. D’Amore complained that party powerbrokers were behind the investigation, observing it had been initiated shortly before she was due to face preselection. It was already clear at that point that she was under grave threat from Canada Bay mayor Angelo Tsirekas, who had been her main rival in 2003 and 2007. The revoking of D’Amore’s party membership after the ICAC finding made Tsirekas’s preselection a formality. D’Amore may have also have suffered from her association with Joe Tripodi, her brother-in-law.
The Liberal candidate is John Sidoti, the mayor of Burwood. Another aspirant was Scott Farlow, state Young Liberals president and an ally of Right powerbroker and federal Mitchell MP Alex Hawke.
Analysis written by William Bowe. Please direct corrections or comments to pollbludger-AT-crikey.com.au. Read William’s blog, The Poll Bludger.