The campaign for next year’s state election is officially underway for Nationals candidate Dugald Saunders, who hit the streets for some door-knocking on Friday.
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But he is relatively late to the party; Country Labor’s Stephen Lawrence and independent Mathew Dickerson launched their respective campaigns – and hit the trail – months ago.
Mr Saunders acknowledged some election fatigue in the community, but promised to focus on issues, not personalities, in his campaign.
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“I think people have had a bit of politician overload, particularly from a federal perspective,” he said.
“I just want to be listening to people and finding out what matters to them and what I’m hearing is what matters is politicians acting properly, not being selfish, not acting like children.”
Mr Saunders said old-fashioned door-knocking had more value than ever in the age of social media.
“People know social media can be a way of attacking other people from behind the safety of a keyboard … I won’t be doing that,” he said.
“I’m more interested in actually meeting the people that will vote … face-to-face.”
The former ABC Western Plains presenter is on long-service leave from the public broadcaster. He says there is no legal issue with a state candidate being on the federal government’s payroll.