Fairfield
Margin: Labor 7.4%
Region: South-Western Sydney
Federal: McMahon (49%)/Blaxland (26%)/Fowler (24%)
Candidates in ballot paper order
|
JAMES LAZAR GUY ZANGARI EDWARD ROYAL CHARBEL SALIBA ANDREW NICHOLSON |
2011 BOOTH RESULTS MAP |
PAST RESULTS |
DEMOGRAPHICS |
|
Two-party preferred booth results from 2011 state election showing Labor majority in red and Liberal in blue. New boundaries in thicker blue lines, old ones in thinner red lines. Boundary data courtesy of Ben Raue of The Tally Room.
|
Located about 30 kilometres west of central Sydney, Fairfield was one of 20 retained by Labor at the 2011 election, prior to which it was held for 16 years by Joe Tripodi. The redistribution has reoriented the electorate westwards, adding 13,500 voters in Canley Heights and Wakeley from Cabramatta and removing 11,400 voters in Chester Hill and most of Villawood to Bankstown, with a further 3500 in Guildford transferred to Granville in the north. The changes have add 0.5% to a Labor margin that was slashed by 18.7% in the 2011 landslide.
Joe Tripodi came to the seat at the age of 27 after spearheading a Right faction takeover of Young Labor in the early 1990s, and defeating incumbent Geoff Irwin for preselection at the 1995 election. He emerged as a key figure in the “Terrigals” sub-faction together with Obeid, and served in the ministry from February 2005 until then Premier Nathan Rees dumped him for disloyalty in November 2009, which not coincidentally was followed by Rees’ own demise within three weeks later. Tripodi was by now well established as a political liability, and there was duly relief in Labor ranks when he opted to bow out at the 2011 election. He has since been a focus of inquiries by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which made a corruption finding against him in June 2014 without recommending charges.
Fairfield has since been held for Labor by Guy Zangari, who prior to entering parliament was pastoral care co-ordinator at Freeman Catholic College in Bonnyrigg. His preselection was reportedly owed in part to Tripodi’s ongoing influence in local branches, with press reports keen to observe his brother had once been Tripodi’s adviser. Zangari was elevated to shadow cabinet in October 2012 in the citizenship and communities portfolios, part of a reshuffle that contentiously elevated four members of the Right to the front bench. He further gained sport and recreation when Miranda MP Barry Collier stepped down pending his retirement at the coming election.
Corrections, complaints and feedback to William Bowe at pollbludger-at-bigpond-dot-com. Read William’s blog, The Poll Bludger.
Back to Crikey’s New South Wales election guide