Independent Farrer candidate Kevin Mack wants to put regional Australia ‘‘back on the map’’.
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A confident Mr Mack launched his campaign in Deniliquin on Friday and believes he can continue the trend towards independents and unseat the Liberal Party’s Sussan Ley, who has held it for more than 17 years.
‘‘Apart from Indi... regional locations have not been on the map for a long time, because it’s convenient for governments to invest in super cities on the eastern seaboard, even though it’s making them congested.
‘‘There’s no solid decentralisation policy, there’s no vision, there’s no infrastructure vision and there’s no end in sight for either major party.
‘‘Labor’s answer is to tax the middle income earners more... eventually they stop working too because they can’t afford to work.’’
Mr Mack says an independent can have a greater voice ‘‘because you don’t have hidden agendas, you just have your people at heart and you want to make a difference to your people.
‘‘Cathy McGowan (Member for Indi) has done a great job and so has (Victorian Independent) Suzanna Sheed, and there are other examples.
In a press conference on Friday, Ms Ley claimed Mr Mack, the Albury City Mayor, would be a ‘‘part time candidate for much of the campaign and a part time mayor’’.
She also warned that voting for an independent candidate or single interest party at the coming election could lead to the Murray Darling Basin Plan being destroyed by Labor.
At his launch in Deniliquin at the Cressy St office of Voices for Farrer, which is supporting his efforts, Mr Mack said he was fully committed to Farrer and that voting for an independent would not be a vote for Labor.
Voices for Farrer believes there will be broad-based community support for political change from people who want their own voice heard in Canberra.
‘‘Sussan doesn’t know how hard I work. She’s never ever spent a day in my shoes. And who is she to talk about effort; I’ll stand my effort against hers any day.
‘‘Have we reached point already that we’re getting personal? I don’t intend to get personal, because it’s not about Sussan, it’s about her party.
‘‘It’s about who they represent and a lot of people in Farrer are abandoning the National and Liberal parties because they haven’t delivered.’’
Mr Mack targeted water policy, which will be a key election issue, saying people in the region are being unfairly treated with the zero water allocation which has ‘‘hit home to the people in Farrer that local representation is not effective; that their state and federal representation is lacking.
‘‘I approached both the state member and Sussan Ley in July last year to try and get environmental water released to irrigators who could finish crops to give them a chance to turn over an income, and the response from both was ‘it’s too hard’.
‘‘The sad story is this argument should have been had five years ago, and the irrigators have been having this argument in isolation.
‘‘The major parties have been able to quarantine them off and no-one wanted to listen.’’
Mr Mack said irrigators ‘‘need at least 10 years of guaranteed allocation to make your loans disappear and your future become a reality, because right now hairdressers, newsagents, clubs, pubs, restaurants and cafes are closing.
‘‘It really disappoints me that this if this the way they represent the people on water, what are they like on other things like energy, power, health, transport and connectivity.’’
Mr Mack said connectivity is also an important issue.
‘‘Farrer is the second biggest electorate in NSW... (and we’ve built) 13 mobile towers in 18 years,’’ he said.
‘‘Cathy McGowan’s got 34, plus the Victorian government threw in 11. That’s 45 in the six years she’s been in Indi as an independent.
‘‘Sussan’s response is that ‘oh, it’s very hilly over there’. Well it’s very flat out here and maybe 20 or 30 out here would work far more effectively than 30 in Indi.
‘‘That’s a comparison you just can’t ignore.
‘‘It’s not much to ask for; water, connectivity and transport. Farrer is right behind the eight-ball.
‘‘People are sick of it. People in Albury are sick of it, people in this region are sick of it and people in Griffith are sick of it.
‘‘The reality is is that the illness is the major parties. The major parties do not have a policy between them that makes sense.
‘‘The whole policy cycle needs to be reset. The only way it resets is if everyone says ‘we’ve had enough’, and that takes guts.
‘‘They’ll just keep running out this old donkey ‘oh, what can an independent do if you’re not in a party’.
‘‘Well an independent can have a voice, can negotiate, and can work with both parties to achieve a common objective.
‘‘Sitting on the cross bench to me would never be boring, because it’s about getting amongst it all and having discussions about opportunity.’’
On different locations in the electorate Mr Mack said Albury was no more important than Deniliquin, Moama, Balranald, Barham or anywhere else.
‘‘The smallest issue at Balranald might be the biggest issue in Albury. The vote in Barham is as special as a vote in Albury. Getting them is going to be a big job.’’
Mr Mack is expecting the Liberals to ‘‘come out with something’’ and said it ‘‘might be a bonus for Farrer to get a promise from a government party that isn’t going to win.
‘‘Labor’s not going to compete with them because they know they can’t win Farrer.
‘‘But I think an independent can, and I do believe that. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe it.
‘‘I’ll give it my best shot.’’