It is on! The battle for the state seat of Dubbo heated up as soon as the National Party announced ABC radio personality Dugald Saunders as its candidate for Dubbo in the 2019 state election.
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The former ABC radio host defeated NSW Rural Woman of the Year Jillian Kilby and Zoo2Zoo founder Andrew McKay at a meeting of the Dubbo Nationals branch on Saturday.
Country Labor candidate for Dubbo Stephen Lawrence said the National Party “can't resist a radio personality”.
"I don’t know Dugald well, as he would only occasionally have me on his show, but I certainly congratulate him,” Mr Lawrence said.
“The extraordinary talent of Jillian Kilby has been overlooked because polling shows Dugald has good name recognition in Mudgee and Gulgong. A cynical decision by party power brokers that I think the electorate will see through by March 2019.”
Mr Lawrence said the Nationals’ claim that only Mr Saunders had the “contacts” to get things done for Dubbo was “a silly claim.”
"The fact is the smart vote in March will be for a Country Labor MP who will be part of a new Labor Government in Macquarie Street,” he said.
“Of course the Nationals will never admit that and will fall back on silly born to rule claims that assume they will be in government forever, the reality is they won't be. The Nationals will say anything to keep the seat.”
Independent candidate for Dubbo Matt Dickerson said he would focus on policy rather than personality during the campaign.
“I want to focus on what I can do for constituents rather than what others are doing,” he said.
“There are contrasting issues across the electorate, people in Trangie have things they need that are different from what those in Mudgee want and Dubbo has problems they need to be solved that are different again.
“The electorate needs someone focusing on the issue, not someone who is focusing on the next position of the party or looking internally at what to do rather than going out to connect with the people. That’s what I am doing I will never have a party position if I represent the electorate I’ll represent its people, not a party.”
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Craig Thomson
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
