FORMER Speaker and federal Labor MP Harry Jenkins is not concerned about his hold on the seat of Scullin after Labor’s devastating wipeout at the Queensland state election.
He said Queensland was capable of “enormous swings” and the state election there featured issues peculiar to the state.
He pointed out that results in the Victorian state by-election of Niddrie on the same day did not reflect the Queensland result, and he dismissed opposition leader Tony Abbott’s description of Labor as “a toxic brand”.
“While the Liberal party didn’t turn up, the result didn’t indicate the people of Niddrie consider Labor to be a toxic brand,” he said.
On a two-party preferred basis, Labor’s Ben Carroll won 70 per cent of the votes in Niddrie over the Greens’ Josie Lester, while the Liberals did not contest the seat.
“I think what the Queensland results show is that, if Labor is a brand, we have to pay attention to the way in which people perceive that brand,” Mr Jenkins said.
“We have to realise that, in some people’s eyes, it’s a damaged brand.”
Mr Jenkins said that with a federal election not due for 15-18 months, he did not expect any anti-Labor trend to substantially impact on Scullin, where he has a 20.6 per cent margin.
