In the last weeks of winter 2001, Cheryl Kernot was standing in a pavilion shed, preparing to fight for her political life. Kernot was the Labor incumbent in Dickson, an electorate of sprawling suburbia north of Brisbane, dotted with pockets of semi-rural and industrial land. The election was three months away and Kernot had set up shop at the Pine Rivers show, an annual fair in Lawnton.
Among the amusement rides, livestock competitions and showbag stands, Kernot and Labor sensed a chance to get their message in front of a large number of voters.
Kernot was battling to hold on to the seat she had won narrowly in 1998, when the national result went against Labor under Kim Beazley’s leadership.
