Michael Johnsen’s Upper Hunter seat to be hotly contested in the by-election following resignation — By Amy Ziniak
Could it be an all female affair? Parties are scrambling to field candidates in the hotly contest Upper Hunter by-election. Who will they be?
Parties are scrambling to find new candidates to contest the Upper Hunter seat in the upcoming by-election, triggered by the resignation of Nationals MP Michael Johnsen.
His resignation — following pressure from the NSW Premier and Deputy Premier — has put the Berejiklian Government at risk, with a loss set to end the government’s majority in the Legislative Assembly.
Being a very marginal seat, and the controversy which has surfaced, it’s set to be a challenging task for the Coalition Government, Premier Gladys Berejiklian admitted they’d need a “miracle” to win.
And the shakeup could see a female MP in the seat, which has seen men reign for it’s history.
The Liberal party however will stand aside to allow a “Nats only show”, with the party having a stronghold over the electorate for many years.
While the party will follow pre-selection processes to appoint a suitable candidate, senior Nationals are eyeing off long-term Singleton Mayor Sue Moore.
First elected to council in 1999, Ms Moore served as the council-elected and first female Mayor from 2008 to 2012 and then popularly elected Mayor in 2016.
The beef cattle producer believes Singleton is the economic engine room of NSW and largest contributor of mining royalties in the state and is “at the centre of national and global discussions focused on the future of energy”.
The party has indicated there will be a candidate, but are holding their cards close to their chest, as it works through its selection process.
New kid on the block and first time candidate Eva Pears has announced she will put her hat in the ring for the Liberal Democrats.
The Hunter high school teacher is a born and bred Novocastrian and her family has lived in the Hunter region for several generations.
She was intending to run for Newcastle City Council in ward 1 in the September 2020 local council elections, but they were put on hold due the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now she’s making a bid for the recently vacated Upper Hunter seat and has plenty of agendas to push.
“First thing will be greater accountability for the Berejiklian Government, I’ll like to promote an independent inquiry into the Ruby Princess debacle, an independent inquiry into council grant rorts, I think there’s a lot going on, there’s a lot of problems in council in these areas,” she said.
“Like to introduce a bill to abolish stamp duty on property, and also a bill to abolish payroll tax and oppose all liberal/national, labor, greens any alliances that kills jobs in the area.”
Ms Pears is pro-mining and skeptical about renewable energy plans.
“I think it’s ridiculous to be introducing green legislation in an area that is historically founded on coal mining, especially when we’re exporting it to areas whose carbon output is significantly higher than ours,” she added.
“I don’t believe the hype to a lot of the climate change alarmist and the economic burden is far more significant than the output of carbon emissions that we generate.”
The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party also put in a strong challenge at the last election, Upper Hunter Shire councillor and SFF candidate Lee Watts closely behind on the primary vote, at 22 per cent.
NSW Upper House Member Mark Banasiak told The Newcastle News the party was “quietly confident”, they would have a “decent shot” to topple the Nationals if a by-election were to occur.
“We knew there were some concerns about the Upper Hunter anyway, coming into the next election we heard about some internal polling that wasn’t quite favourable on a couple of National seats and the Upper Hunter was one of them,” he said.
“It’s definitely going to be interesting times.”
The SFF has confirmed there are potential candidates in the mix. Ms Watts has yet to indicate she might give it another shot but could also be considered.
They didn’t run in the 2019 election but One Nation intends to field a candidate for the seat.
The party’s state leader Mark Latham said the campaign would focus on coal jobs and would target Matt Kean and the Energy Minister’s newly appointed climate board chair Malcolm Turnbull as enemies of the local economy.
The Greens fielded candidate Tony Lonergan in the 2019 state election.
He polled five per cent of the vote and could again be considered but the party said they’re in discussions with local groups in the area and will name a candidate soon.
Other parties who contested the seat in 2019 were Sustainable Australia, Animal Justice Party and the Christian Democratics Party which all could put their hand up in the coming week.
George Souris, former Upper Hunter MP for the Nationals.
But whoever fronts up as a candidate it will be a hotly contested seat, which could ultimately change the political landscape.
The NSW Electoral Commission confirmed to fill the vacancy, a “writ” will be issued and the timeframe of when that is done will be up to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
It will then reveal the nomination day and polling day for the by-election.
BACKGROUND
The seat has existed since 1859 and has been held continuously by the Country/National Party since 1932.
It includes part of the New England region, Muswellbrook, Singleton, Dungog and up to Maitland.
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There was a swing of 21 per cent against the Nationals on the retirement of Mr Souris in 2015, when Mr Johnsen first took the seat, disputes over coal seam gas exploration and the proposed expansion of coal mining seemingly a contentious issue.
Colin Murray Fisher held the seat as a National Country from 1970 to 1988, before that was Frank Lionel O’Keefe also with National Country from 1962.
This article first appeared in “The Daily Telegraph”, 02/04/21
