In a fighting town, either side can catch Herbert's love bug

By Mark Todd
September 18, 2004

Both Liberal and Labor know how important it is to be the fighting man's friend, particularly in the marginal Queensland electorate of Herbert, based around the garrison town of Townsville.

Lavarack Barracks and Garbutt air base are home to some 7800 troops. Every year the Defence Department spends $500 million on wages, maintenance, food, power, and fuel.

Service personnel account for more than 10 per cent of the voters, and support many more people. A group that large can easily decide the outcome in an electorate where the Liberal member, Peter Lindsay, is clinging to a margin of 1.5 per cent.

Lindsay faces Labor's Anita Phillips, a social worker and former state MP who shot to national prominence in July for comments seemingly at odds with Labor's policy of withdrawing troops from Iraq by Christmas.

"There is no doubt in any soldier or airman's mind in Townsville that under Labor there'll be no more overseas deployments and that the size of the defence force will be cut," Lindsay said. "ADF personnel spend their lives training and are appalled that Labor doesn't want them to go outside the country anymore."

Townsville has not sent soldiers to Iraq but frontline troops, many with service in East Timor, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, are stationed in the city.

Phillips said military personnel had not thrown their weight behind one party or another. "Just because they work in the armed services doesn't make their lifestyle and day-to-day issues all that different to the rest of the community."

There is another side to Townsville, a city of 150,000, with less than 10 per cent older than 70, says Phillips. It is home to James Cook University and is a resources hub, with copper, nickel, and zinc refineries.

Tourism is also on the rise - Magnetic Island is a short boat ride away and the city recently spent millions on a sweeping new waterfront precinct.

Civilians cited taxes, higher education, health care, leadership, and roads (the north is frequently cut off by floods) as the main issues. They had heard enough about the war in Iraq.

"I wish they'd stop making out it's the biggest deal," said Peta Pettigrew, a cafe owner, married with one child. "Stop hiding other things by pretending everything will fall apart tomorrow."