THE mayor of Albury Kevin Mack will stand at the next NSW election.
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The civic leader said he planned to contest the poll in March 2019 as an independent or as Liberal Party candidate if incumbent Greg Aplin retires.
“I would be standing whether he (Mr Aplin) stands or not,” Cr Mack said.
“At this point I am an independent (candidate) through and through.
“It will be a case of the region deciding whatever’s best for them.
“If Greg decides to step down, then so be it.”
Mr Aplin’s future was put in the spotlight last week when his party leader and NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian said she “absolutely” expected him to compete in the 2019 election.
Mr Aplin took the premier’s backing as recognition of his toil.
“She indicated that this delivery of projects and the future delivery of projects is all part of the representation that I make,” he said.
“So that encouragement is good to hear.”
When then asked directly if he would be standing at the election in March 2019, Mr Aplin was non-committal.
“At the moment I am concentrating entirely on what we did over the last couple of days, which is delivering the projects, seeing the projects and planning for the future,” he said.
“That’s my intention, to continue planning for the future and seeing those projects delivered and that’s part of the job.
“There is speculation and that speculation is coming from The Border Mail.
“At what point does one do that in the cycle of four years, I mean this is crazy.
“My job is to continue in the role as the member for Albury, that’s what I’m doing.
“I’m not looking 10, 20, 30 years ahead or whatever.
“I just get on with the job.”
Mr Aplin is set to surpass his predecessor Ian Glachan’s 15-year stint as member for Albury next year.
If Mr Aplin stood in 2019 and completed the subsequent four-year term he would become the longest-serving Albury MLA.
Past Albury mayor Doug Padman holds the record, having represented the city and surrounds in Macquarie Street from 1947 to 1965.
If Cr Mack was successful he would the first man to have been Albury mayor and then member for Albury since Harold Mair who was in parliament from 1978 to 1988.
Mr Mair has been the only Labor Party member to represent Albury since World War II.
A timeline for Liberal Party preselection for Albury is yet to be determined.