The independent member for Murray is looking forward to the March 25 New South Wales election, telling Flow the last race for the seat saw significant commitments made by the Nationals hoping to retain it.
Helen Dalton won the seat as a Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party candidate but left the party mid-term to sit as an independent. Mrs Dalton told Flow she's expecting a big fight:
"It's taken them a long time to find somebody so here it is, December, and the March election on the 25th. It's going to be interesting going up against a party machine. I certainly won't be taking anything for granted. I've got to continue working very hard.
"The reason I ran was because we had very little money coming in to our electorate, a safe Nationals seat. Contesting the election in 2019 resulted in about $500 million coming into the electorate - we've never seen so much money. Going on from that we've had another $200 million, a bit hard to quantify but I estimate $700 million has come into the electorate in the past 4 years compared to prior to 2019."
The incumbent MP sought to differentiate the situation from the three Victorian independents who lost seats in November's state election to the National Party, saying the NSW voting system did not obligate voters to number every box.
When voters do not number every box, their vote potentially 'exhausts' rather than remaining in the counting until a later numbered box sees their vote allocated to one of the two final competitors.
Hear the full interview on the Flow podcast player below:
コメント