CHANGES to Calare electorate boundaries have come as no surprise to all parties involved, but the loss of Parkes and Forbes has caused frustration to MP John Cobb.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Calare’s boundaries from this year’s federal election will take in the Mid-Western Regional and Wellington Shire council areas, while Parkes and Forbes will go into the Riverina electorate.
The changes were first mooted in the Australian Electoral Commission’s draft proposal in October and are set to shave only 1 per cent off Mr Cobb’s 16 per cent margin.
Mr Cobb said electorally the Nationals had fared well with the changes and it would be an honour to represent Mudgee and Wellington, but the party had argued against the Parkes and Forbes change because its community of interest did not lie to the south.
“How can you call them the Riverina? It’s ridiculous,” he said.
“And why is it necessary to put half the state in one electorate? No one could handle it better than [member for Parkes] Mark Coulton, but it’s not fair to him and not fair to the people of western NSW.
“There are still 47 House of Representatives seats in NSW and I think the electoral commission is too lazy to do some boundary adjustments in higher population centres.”
Newly-preselected Labor candidate for Calare Jess Jennings said the electorate would remain tough to win, but having Wellington and Mudgee could make a difference to the campaign, with agriculture and tourism set to be key platforms.
“The Central West area needs to establish an internationally-recognised tourism brand - we need to think beyond regional or national markets,” he said.
“The wind industry was struck dead for 18 months and John Cobb was part of that when the biggest issue confronting farmers is climate variability and he doesn’t think it’s an issue.”
The Nationals have not yet held a pre-selection for Calare and Mr Cobb said he intended to run.
He said efforts would be made in the coming months to ensure farmers had access to information on the free-trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea.
“We’ve got to learn how to take advantage of exports and we need to be making our producers aware that they can enlarge their operations or create new ones,” he said.
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au
