HEALTH will be the centrepiece of the Farrer election battle after Albury trainee doctor Christian Kunde was confirmed as the Labor candidate on Monday.
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The 30-year-old father of two is a trainee doctor at Albury hospital where Greens candidate Dr Amanda Cohn also works and the seat is held by health minister, Sussan Ley, with a margin of more than 20 per cent.
The only other candidate in Farrer to date is Australian Liberty Alliance's Ron Pike.
Mr Kunde said he had first-hand experience of the Coalition government's health agenda and was particularly concerned about mental health services in the electorate.
“Our health system is under attack and I want to be the one to defend that here,” he said.
“Communities in our electorate should have the same access to those in Sydney and Melbourne.
“Currently in Hay there is no access to psychological services and residents there have to travel to Griffith or here to access those services.
“The Coalition assault on Medicare has already started and Ms Ley has shown herself unwilling and unable to defend public health.”
Ms Ley said: “The NSW local health network might have positions vacant, but aren’t filled.
“Some services are state and some are federal.
“The headspace I opened in Griffith is out-reaching to Hay.”
Mr Kunde stood for the Bullet Train Party at the 2013 federal election on the Central Coast and remains a strong supporter of fast rail.
Unlike the Labor candidate, Eric Kerr, in the neighbouring Indi electorate, Mr Kunde supports Labor's border protection policy.
“We have to stop the people smuggler's business model,” Mr Kunde said.
“There are still humanitarian questions to be answered, but ultimately a Labor government will be far more humane than the current Liberal government.”
Albury Labor identity Darren Cameron defended the party's late entry into Farrer where the party vote has dipped below 30 per cent of the primary vote at the last two federal elections.
“We intend to peg that margin until one day this electorate is held by Labor,” he said.
“We have an extremely rigorous process now to ensure we get the best possible candidate.
“We've had some bad experiences in the past with some of our state and federal candidates.
“We're determined right across Australia to have good governance in place to get the right people.”
Former Farrer Labor candidate Nico Matthews blasted the party for not having a candidate when the July 2 election date was confirmed.
