Labor’s Griffin boosts majority

By Shaun Inguanzo
ALAN Griffin has been returned as MP for Bruce with an increased majority, defeating Liberal opponent Angela Randall for the second time in a row.
But Ms Randall was bitter in defeat after expecting to win the seat after reducing the margin at the 2004 federal election.
“I’m disappointed,” she said. “I was expecting to win because the feedback I was getting was very positive and people were very encouraging.”
Mr Griffin said Labor would not take the trust of voters for granted.
He said the Howard government was to blame for its own loss, having gone too far on issues such as WorkChoices, and done too little to tackle climate change.
Mr Griffin thanked the Bruce electorate for supporting him, and said he had his fingers crossed about being offered a position in Kevin Rudd’s Cabinet, which will be announced either today (Thursday) or tomorrow.
“I always had people coming up to me (during the campaign) saying ‘I lost my job’ or ‘I am very concerned about the circumstances for my kids’,” he said.
“On issue of climate change, the Howard government showed it wasn’t looking to the future about problems facing our country.”
Ms Randall declared she was already planning to run at the 2010 Federal Election to win back Bruce.
“It’s a great disappointment,” she said about her loss.
“Particularly for Bruce because people will have had the same representative for 12 years and it’s not going to change.
“It’s poor representation.”
Ms Randall said voters were duped into supporting Labor through heavy union advertising against the WorkChoices industrial relations laws.
“People made up their mind to vote Labor based on WorkChoices and didn’t look at the broader consequences,” she said.
“We are now going to have union domination at workplaces, where people will not be able to enter their jobs unless they have a ticket.
“The unions don’t put money into a campaign without expecting a payback and that is what we are going to have.”