Tim McCurdy has described fraud charges laid against him as nothing more than a stunt from an angry neighbour.
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Speaking on ABC Goulburn Murray’s Ovens Valley election debate on Thursday morning, the incumbent Nationals MP admitted he would lose votes due to the fact a County Court trial is pending next year.
He said said he was confident of being found not guilty because it was just a “stunt” around election time.
“I’m not the first person in the world to have a next-door neighbour who gets angry,” he said.
Country Party candidate Julian Fidge attempted to intervene and have his say, but was stopped by radio host Joseph Thomsen.
Independent candidate Tammy Atkins said if elected, her first task would be to conduct community planning sessions across the electorate, but denied they were the same as “kitchen table conversations” made famous by Cathy McGowan during her Indi campaign.
“I think we’re going to have to invent a word for this because no one has done this kind of approach of whole of electorate strategic planning before,” she said.
“The role of an MP is not just about cutting ribbons and making speeches, it’s about connecting communities.
Dr Fidge and Mr McCurdy agreed with the need to talk to people in the electorate.
“We don’t need more kitchen table conversations, we need to get on with it and deliver what the community wants,” Mr McCurdy said.
Other topics covered were renewable energy policies, how to prevent violence against women and the ongoing issue of trains.
Dr Fidge said he would like to see sleeper trains travel to Mount Beauty and Bright, like he had seen in the US.
“I think it is a niche market for people from Melbourne or Sydney, he said.
The Labor and Greens candidates, and independent Ray Dyer were absent from Thursday’s radio debate.
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