THE National Party will conduct a pre-selection convention next month after Wahgunyah's Greg Lawrence joined the race to be the Indi candidate on Thursday.
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Mr Lawrence and Wangaratta's Marty Corboy were the only two nominations to publicly state their intentions before the deadline.
The pre-selection battle will be held on November 14 and will lock in the Nationals’ first candidate in Indi since 2001 when the late Don Chambers went up against eight other rivals including eventual winner, Sophie Mirabella.
State director Jenny Hammet refused to reveal whether any other nominations had been received, but said the party would reveal more details about the pre-selection in coming days.
Mr Lawrence has lived in Indi since 1991 when he and his wife Fiona purchased Yackandandah's Star Hotel.
He later worked at the Howlong Country Club and presently works for Griffith Council as its tourism and economic development manager.
Mr Lawrence is also former vice-chairman of the defunct cross-border tourism body, Destination Albury-Wodonga.
"I believe my background has given me the essential ingredients to make a contribution to this beautiful and robust community of Indi," he said.
"The only way we are going to make things happen for us in Indi is to have Indi return to the Nationals and by voting for me I will ensure we have a real plan to attract, build and retain investment for our futures.
"This is my strength because this is what I have been doing for the better part of my working life and certainly in the last five or so years in my current roles.
"I have in my career secured many millions of dollars of investment for regional areas I have served."
Mr Lawrence's wife operates a small business in Rutherglen.
Mr Corboy welcomed the competition.
"It's fantastic Indi members have a choice," he said.
"The Nationals pre-selection process is the most democratic in Australia."