Almost a year after a judge found she defamed Sophie Mirabella during the 2016 election campaign, Libby Price will be back in the public eye to facilitate debate in the 2019 campaign.
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The former Benalla Ensign editor, who now presents radio show Country Today, has been announced to host an Indi meet the candidates event to be held in Benalla next week.
It will be the first time all five candidates announced so far - Mark Byatt from the Nationals, independent Helen Haines, Labor's Eric Kerr, Liberal Steve Martin and Shane Wheatland from the United Australia Party - will be in the same location.
If more candidates are announced over the next week, they will be asked to join the event.
Ms Price infamously wrote a story in April 2016 falsely claiming Mrs Mirabella "pushed" Indi MP Cathy McGowan while they were both attending an event at an aged care facility.
But Benalla election forum organiser Alice Martin said this did not come into consideration when asking Ms Price to fill the facilitator role.
"Given that the Liberal candidate is a different person, there's certainly no ill will between the Liberal Party and her. There's been no questions raised," she said.
"We chose Libby because she has a lot of experience in facilitating and presenting with her extensive experience on (ABC radio's) The Country Hour and as a radio presenter and journalist.
"We thought that as a politically-minded person, she would help us to facilitate some interesting discussion."
The candidates will be given a chance to introduce themselves before answering pre-prepared questions from Ms Price and questions from those who attend.
Ms Martin said the organising group did not have a formal name, but was made up of politically interested Benalla residents from across the political spectrum with members involved with both Liberal and Labor branches in the North East.
"We're not party affiliated in any way ... We're trying to make sure that we're a representative group so there are no biases," she said. "We're just wanting to support people to have an informed choice when they come into vote.
"We're trying to encourage political engagement."
No federal election date has been announced as yet, but it is expected to be held on May 18.
The forum will be held on April 10 at the Benalla Lakeside Community Centre from 7.30pm.
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