Cameron Thompson: From cock-of-the-walk to feather duster!

After 9 years of neglecting the people of Ipswich as the Federal Liberal Member for Blair, Cameron Thompson has finally come out of his cave - displaying the very lack of credentials which induced voters to unceremoniously dump him last weekend.

In a miserable letter of defeat to The Queensland Times, Cameron Thompson is still claiming credit for the so-called Goodna Bypass.

This Bypass never actually got off the ground except for the initial round of property resumptions which hurt many people at Riverview and Moggill.

The Bypass plan - which, along with WorkChoices, was the major reason for Cameron Thompson's defeat - would not have seen one red cent spent by the Howard Government on upgrading the 6km stretch of the Ipswich Motorway from Goodna to Dinmore.

This former member now has the temerity to claim that "local elected representatives of the Labor Party failed to support their own voters" over the doomed Goodna Bypass plan.

Well, Cameron besides being loose with the truth, your mathematical skills are proving extremely problematic as well.

On the latest count by the Australian Electoral Commission in Blair, the 2-party preferred vote is:

Shayne Neumann (ALP) - 42,274 (54.84%)

Cameron Thompson (Liberal) - 34,815 (45.16%).

Shayne Neumann has a commanding 7459 vote lead over the former Member.

Cameron Thompson's swipe at local elected representatives of the Labor Party is totally pathetic.

On Saturday night with the results rolling in, those same Labor Party representatives proved they were totally in touch with the local electorate over the Goodna Bypass issue - a fact which Cameron Thompson conveniently forgets.

Cameron Thompson might have been the cock-of-the-walk last week but now he is just the feather duster from Blair and if he had one ounce of commonsense he would stop blaming everyone but himself for the 10.53% swing against him - one of the largest swings against any sitting member in Australia.

The best thing Shayne Neumann could hope for is for Cameron Thompson to hang around for 3 years trying to win his old seat back.

I will make a prediction now that if Cameron Thompson stands as the Liberal candidate in Blair at the 2010 election, his vote will plummet even further than it did so spectacularly last Saturday night.

Say goodnight Cameron - and turn out the light in the Liberal Party bunker as you leave!