THE Liberal stronghold of Albury will be challenged by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party at the next NSW election in March 2019.
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The party which claimed the safe National seat of Orange last year and achieved large swings in the Murray and Cootamundra by-elections at the weekend has already started to identify a candidate in Albury.
SFF MLC Robert Borsak said Albury had been a safe seat for too long.
“It’s definitely a seat we are interested in,” he said.
“We are in the process of looking for a good candidate and when we find one we will be including Albury in the list of seats in the bush we think people are interested in voting for change.
“Even though it is largely centred on the city of Albury there is a good opportunity there for us.
“We’ve been talking to people in the area and finding there is a level of dissatisfaction with what is going on with a Sydney-based control of the Coalition.”
The SFF candidate in Murray, Helen Dalton, was a former Nationals member and NSW Farmers director.
The Nationals’ Austin Evans will hold onto the seat which includes Berrigan, Barooga, Finley and Deniliquin, but suffered a 15 per cent swing.
Local government mergers are still resonating as a source of disgruntlement among voters towards the Coalition.
The Albury electorate’s two major merger areas were Corowa, Urana and Tumbarumba.
Albury Labor spokesman Darren Cameron also confirmed his party was on the recruiting trail for a candidate.
“These swings demonstrate conclusively that people are fed up with this government,” he said.
“Particularly its policy of forced amalgamations.
“Labor will be seeking to run the strongest possible candidate, preferably someone with local government experience.
“We are very encouraged by the swings against the government in Murray and Cootamundra.”
With the NSW election still more than a year away there are many moving parts in the Albury electorate in addition to whether Mr Aplin will stand.
Other factors include whether the Nationals can field a candidate and whether a high profile independent also steps forward.