Even with a comfortable winning margin in the past five elections, incumbent Parkes MP Mark Coulton reveals there is fright in his latest re-election bid at the thought of staunch opponents aligning to force a hung parliament with Labor at the helm.
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"I know if Jack Ayoub's party gets in they will need preferences of the Greens and some independents I am concerned about the impact to agriculture and some of our industries," Mr Coulton said on election eve, preparing for a tough contest.
"It's not about Jack, he is a nice young man [but] he's with a party that has preferences that have no comprehension of what Parkes really needs and how they work."
Mr Ayoub last time took over 20 percent of primary votes and reached 33 percent after preferences from minor parties. But the berth is wide with Mr Coulton having a nearly 17 percent margin from 2019 even ABC election analyst Antony Green parked the seat among Coalition held electorates to retain in this election.
But Mr Coulton said he was not taking for granted some 40,000 voters of Parkes' 110,000 registered voters who did not vote for the Nationals in 2019.
"That's a large number of people who don't vote for me [but] I put a lot of effort and my staff in my office [also] put a lot of effort helping individuals and many of those people we helped probably haven't voted for me but it's never a question that gets asked," he said.
Mr Coulton expressed his apprehensions to Greens' leader Adam Bandt laying out his parties priorities in the event of a hung parliament.
If the Greens were to install Labor under Anthony Albanese, Coulton said "any form of influence on any form of government will be very very bad for the people in my electorate."
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Mr Bandt said they would "kick out" the Coalition and "keep Labor on track" to ensure the next government is tackling climate change by implementing 75 percent carbon emissions reduction and closing down coal and gas mines, restoring carbon credits for farms, and accelerating sustainable farming.
Mr Coulton said he has strongly opposed the Greens' drastic proposals in parliament that would negatively impact the region's primary and resources industries production and employment, cattle and dairy production, rebate on diesel fuel for farmers' off-road vehicles, and intergenerational wealth transfer that would see farming families losing out on assets.
"I know what he [Bandt] says in parliament and it's very, very frightening for regional Australia so it's not only about jobs [to protect] but there will be huge concerns around our industries," Mr Coulton said.
"I am a person of my word that if I say something I mean it. I don't always go the popular line.."
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