COUNTRY Labor candidate for Dubbo Stephen Lawrence says he will challenge the sitting member to debate him ahead of next year's state election.
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The political aspirant said he looked forward to debating Member for Dubbo Troy Grant in the electorate.
"I think in modern politics it's what people expect and I'll be asking him for a debate, for example on electricity privatisation," Mr Lawrence.
The new candidate is a lawyer whose career has seen him work both in Australia and in conflict and post-conflict zones across the world.
He was admitted as a solicitor in 2002 and started working as a prosecutor with the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions where he specialised in the prosecution of family violence matters.
He moved to Dubbo to work with the Aboriginal Legal Service in 2010, but has continued to have an international focus in his work.
He recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, where he worked in an international rule of law mission.
He said in his career he had strongly advocated for additional resources in the justice system in the west of the state and had campaigned on law reform issues relevant to his work.
He is challenging Mr Grant, whose elevation to the leadership of the Nationals last week came in his first term in Parliament.
Mr Grant previously served in the NSW Police Force for 22 years, reaching the rank of inspector.