The Albury Council environmental health officer was officially unveiled as the Labor candidate on Monday and repeated that climate change was a major priority for him.

The state election will be held on March 23 and Liberal candidate Justin Clancy, who is attempting to retain the seat for his party following the retirement of Greg Aplin, has been on the campaign trail since early November.

Labor has not held the seat of Albury since 1988.

“I think a short, sharp run is a lot more effective than people getting attuned to you and switching off,” Mr Muirhead said.

“If I had been around for four months with my monotonous voice people would have switched off.

“People are going to be absolutely fed to their teeth with elections this year and the shorter, sharper and sweeter I can make it, just for their sake, the better.

“I’m also passionate about the opportunities of dealing with those threats.”

Mr Muirhead said climate change was real and all levels of government had to be working on solutions to combat its impacts.

“We’ve got fires in Northern NSW now, we have a longer fire season, we’ve got deeper droughts, longer droughts and more frequent droughts,” he said.

“All parties should be working hard on climate and sadly I have to say the Liberal Party is completely missing in action.”

Health and education with the retention of medical professionals in the area is also a particular focus for Mr Muirhead.

He said Albury was one of the safest seats in the state with his aim to at least make it marginal.

“I’ve seen maps of NSW without even Albury on them,” he said.

“We’ve been a safe seat for 30 years and a safe seat is a forgotten seat.

“The very least we can do is make this place marginal.

“Whoever is in power in Sydney in a few weeks time will take a lot more notice if we are not a safe seat.”

But, Mr Clancy said he was eagerly awaiting Labor’s commitment to the electorate.

“We’ve shown in part our commitment with funding for the Albury hospital,” he said.

“It’s now up to Labor to spell out what their commitments are and what that means in terms of specific policies.”

Mr Muirhead said he had previously considered running as an independent in previous elections, but felt his chances would be stronger being connected to a party.

“An independent would really struggle without a very, very high profile,” he said.

There are presently no independent candidates stepping forward in Albury despite two independents, Jacqui Hawkins and Jenny O’Connor, contesting the Victorian election last year when Liberal incumbent Bill Tilley was returned for another term.