The National Party is unlikely to contest the seat of Goulburn in the March election.
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Chairman of the Nationals’ State Electoral Council for Goulburn James Harker-Mortlock said the urgency to select a nominee had lessened since the Liberal Party confirmed Wendy Tuckerman as its candidate for the seat on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the party’s state director, Ross Cadell, had also dismissed the idea days before the Liberals’ announcement.
The Liberals left it very late.
- James Harker-Mortlock
“The party’s governing body resolved last year to endorse the coalition agreement that states the Liberals would be running in the seat of Goulburn. The party supports that agreement,” Mr Cadell said.
The Nationals’ local state council had considered running a candidate based on the time it was taking the Liberals to select its own, since Pru Goward’s retirement announcement.
“The Liberals left it very late,” he said. “We would have preferred if they’d acted sooner rather than later.”
Ms Tuckerman is the former Boorowa mayor and administrator of its amalgamated successor, Hilltops Council. She is also a former Nationals member and missed out on the party’s selection for the seat of Cootamundra. Ms Tuckerman said she let her Nationals membership lapse last June and joined the Liberals in December.
“Clearly they don’t have a lot of depth in their ranks,” Mr Harker-Mortlock said, regarding the Liberals’ choice of a former National.
I’m disappointed because it’s about electing a local person.
- Jeff Kettle
Ms Tuckerman also previously chaired the Canberra Joint Regional Organisation of Councils and sat on the boards of Regional Development Australia Southern Inland and the Rural Assistance Authority. She was also an Australian Federal Police investigator for 14 years to 1997.
“We wish Wendy well. Our concern is that she's not very well-known in the eastern end of the election, particularly in the main population centre of Goulburn,” Mr Harker-Mortlock said.
“We'll be watching with interest.”
Former Goulburn Mulwaree mayor Geoff Kettle missed out on Liberal Party pre-selection for the seat and resigned his membership on Wednesday.
“I can understand the choice, but I don’t necessarily agree with it,” Mr Kettle said.
“I’m disappointed because it’s about electing a local person. Wendy is local and I have a great deal of respect for her, but I’m not sure she has the same recognition that I do across the electorate.”
Mr Kettle said he was considering running as an independent in the election, although he would not say whether he was contemplating a tilt as a One Nation candidate.
She’ll have to get out and work as hard as me to get herself known.
- Dr Ursula Stephens
Mr Kettle previously met with One Nation candidate for the Senate and NSW party leader Mark Latham, sources have confirmed.
He said he had been a successful mayor who had tried to work hard for his area, knew the issues and was fourth-generation local.
Regarding Ms Tuckerman’s chances against Labor’s Dr Ursula Stephens, Mr Kettle believed the former would have to step up to the challenge against a “very well known and very well liked” candidate who had a high profile and had contested the 2015 election against Ms Goward.
But he hoped it would be a campaign fought on the right policy for the electorate rather than a “slanging match”.
Dr Stephens was in Yass speaking to voters on Thursday. She has been campaigning full-time since she was endorsed in March last year and said Ms Tuckerman’s challenge would be raising her profile in the short time left to the election.
“She’ll have to get out and work as hard as me to get herself known,” Dr Stephens said.
“...We’ve done over 10,000 calls and 10,000 kilometres, so she has some catching up to do.”
Dr Stephens said it would make sense for the Nationals to not run a candidate.
“I think the Nationals understand that if they ran, it would split the conservative vote,” she said. “Tactically and strategically, the conservative parties want fewer players in place because it maximises their chances.”
Dr Stephens said she was aware of the issues with water quality in Yass Valley and overcrowding at the high school.
It’s understood the Nationals will prepare to contest the seat in the following election.