| North Sydney |
Division of O'Connor | Oxley |
 Wilson Tuckey (Lib) His Liberal Party website and his campaign website  Dominic Rose (ALP) His ALP website  Mac Forsyth (CDP) His Christian Democrats website  Phil Gardiner (Nat) His Nationals website and his campaign website  Adrian Price (Grn) His Greens website |
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Location: Country WA: Albany, Geraldton, Katanning, Moora Division named for: Charles O'Connor, Engineer in Chief of Western Australia Median weekly family income: $721 (135th highest) Persons born in non English speaking countries: 3.8% (130th highest) Persons in professional occupations: 33.5% (27th highest) Persons engaged in agriculture: 26.7% (1st highest) Persons aged 65 and over: 11.7% (104th highest) Couple families with dependent children: 38.8% (65th highest) Dwellings being purchased: 22.4% (100th highest) Sitting member: Hon Wilson Tuckey (Liberal), elected 1980, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004 Born: 10 July 1935, Perth. Career: Businessman, hotelier. Councillor, Town of Carnarvon 1964-79, Mayor 1964-65, Shire President 1965-69. Member, Opposition Shadow Ministry 1984-89 and 1993-96. Shadow Minister for Small Business and Administrative Services 1984-87, Shadow Minister for Housing and Small Business 1987, Shadow Minister for Health 1987-88, Shadow Minister for Employment and Training , Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Science and Personnel 1994-96. Minister for Forestry and Conservation and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister 1998-2001, Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government 2002-03 1996 two-party majority: Liberal 25.9 Effect of redistribution: 04.7 shift to Labor 1998 two-party majority: Liberal 15.1 Effect of 2001 redistribution: 00.8 shift to Liberal 2001 two-party majority: Liberal 19.1 2004 primary votes: Labor 18.6, Liberal 53.2, National 9.4, Green 6.7 2004 two-party majority: Liberal 20.4 2004 enrolment: 82,841 2007 enrolment: 84,455 (+01.9%) O'Connor was created in 1980, uniting the western, rural halves of the old seats of Canning and Moore. It covers the Wheat Belt of WA, one of the world's great wheat-producing regions. It is the most rural electorate in Australia, with the highest proportion of its workforce engaged in agriculture of any seat. Like all rural seats, it has a relatively low median family income level, but also has a surprisingly high level of people in professional occupations. Forty years ago O'Connor would have been a safe Country Party seat, but with the decline of the Nationals in WA in the 1970s they have never come close to winning. Instead the seat has always been extremely safe for the very conservative Liberal Wilson Tuckey, who won it in 1980 and has held it ever since. In 2004 the Liberals carried every booth, polling huge majorities of the two-party vote in the small rural booths (96% in Varley), while polling over 60% even in most of the Albany and Geraldton booths. Labor polled best in Albany Central, Beachlands and Denmark. During the Liberals' time in opposition from 1983 to 1996 Tuckey was an effective "head-kicker." In government he was forced to resign from the Howard ministry when he wrote to a (Labor) state minister asking that his son be excused a traffic fine. Now 71, he is the oldest member of the House, but is saddling up for another term. His main rival in 2007 will probably be the Nationals, who have a highly qualified candidate, but while this should be a natural Nationals seat, they will probably not make much impact until Tuckey retires. Candidates in ballot-paper order Candidates on YouTube | 
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