He has also declined to become publicly involved in the leadership turmoil that is affecting the state Liberal Party’s electoral fortunes.

The results of a small poll published by the Sunday Mail this week suggested that the State Liberal Party is facing a significant negative swing and inferred that several seats, including Finniss, were now under threat.

If the seat was to fall to Labor it would be the first time in 69 years that the electorate (previously called Alexandrina) was not in the hands of a conservative party.

Before the last election, in 2006, the electorate was considered to be a very safe Liberal seat, with a margin of 15.6-percent.

After that election, which pitted Mr Pengilly, Mary-Lou Corcoran (Labor) and Kym McHugh (independent National) against each other, the Liberal margin was reduced to 6.6-percent but Mr Pengilly remains confident he can defend his position.

“I don’t get spooked by polls like the one in the Sunday Mail,” Mr Pengilly said.

“It was a metropolitan poll of 400 people and it is irrelevant to Finniss.

“I know it’s a cliché but the only poll that counts is when people enter into a polling booth and put a number in a box.”

“But I never take the electorate for granted.

“I have been working my backside off for the past three-and-a-quarter years, doing 60,000km a year and I get good feedback from the community.”

Mr Pengilly declined to comment on the tensions that have surrounded the State Liberal Leader, Martin Hamilton-Smith since the ‘dodgy document’ affair emerged in April.

“That is a discussion that the party should keep to themselves and not do it in the media,” he said.

Victor Harbor Mayor, Mary-Lou Corcoran, who was preselected as the Labor candidate in October, will again challenge Mr Pengilly.

Alexandrina Mayor, Kym McHugh, has decided to leave his options open and will make a decision about his candidature later in the year.