For a moment I’d thought Warnie had moved states and was standing for the Libs in Indifference 2007 but no. It was Brenton Pavier, the now ex-Liberal candidate for Wyong, in trouble for inappropriate text messaging. Incidentally, Pavier had hit the news a day earlier when the Daily Telegraph discover his dating site profile.
Brenton Pavier, a Liberal councillor and the candidate for Wyong, was disendorsed by the party last night amid revelations he had forwarded an “inappropriate” SMS around Christmas to several people, including a woman.
It purported to come from a Civic video store, and apparently said: “The video you have ordered about how to have sex with men with small penises is ready for collection and the DVD titled Anal Sex with Goats is overdue.”
Councillor Pavier told the Herald he had sent the message to “three or four friends” and had been “stitched up” by his political rivals. “It is sad that friends who you forward jokes to during Christmas time would do this,” he said. “Someone has been sitting on this with ulterior motives to get square with me.”
We could muse whether the contents of the SMS could even be construed as a joke but let’s leave it at “boorish” and have a look at how the Central Coast is shaping up in Indifference 2007.
The Liberals have targeted the Central Coast as an area where they could gain a few seats. Using Antony Green’s helpful guide lets have a look at the seats. This pdf (warning – a little large) shows the boundaries of the electorates.
Gosford (in which I will vote) is a new electorate created via a redistribution. It encompasses most of the old seat of Peats which is the key. The Liberals have never won Peats and unlikely to do so this time around.
Terrigal is the other new electorate from the redistribution of Peats. Chris Hartcher was the MP for Gosford and is likely to become the MP for Terrigal.
Heading north and The Entrance has been in Labor hands since 1992 after a by-election. Green’s trivia notes that the by-election helped push then Liberal Premier Nick Greiner into introducing fixed 4 year terms for the NSW parliament. This could be a seat to watch.
Wyong could have been an interesting race. The current MP, Paul Crittenden, is retiring so the Liberals must have felt they were in with a chance with former Mayor Pavier. With the Liberals campaign pretty well sunk Labor should get home.
Lake Macquarie bridges both the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley. There is a protest vote against Labor with Lake Macquarie Mayor Greg Piper running as an independent. There is a perception that Labor takes for granted its strangle hold on the Hunter based electorates.
The big issue on the coast is water. Local sentiment is against desalination so the Liberal’s water policy could play well (with focus on recycling). The other issue that is on local minds is development. There are elements pushing for greater development (especially high rises) on the coast. Debra Wales, a former Liberal councillor and state candidate, is running as an independent in Gosford is infamous for pushing a pro-development line. The Outrigger Resort at Ettalong was not a popular decision and has made residents wary of any future high rise developments.
The battle for the Central Coast will still be interesting even if the seats are likely to continue to stay as they are now. The results will be a good indicator of how much ground the Liberals have gained at Labor’s expense.
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