Push to oust Orange MP Phil Donato confirmed by SFF - 2023 NSW Election

On Tuesday the NSW Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF) revealed it's preparing to contest the electorate at NSW's upcoming election.

"[We] will be running a candidate in the seat of Orange ... announcement soon," a spokesperson for leader Robert Borsak told the CWD.

The frontrunner for pre-selection is unclear. Branch organisers could not be reached for comment.

Mr Donato told the CWD: "It doesn't bother me who runs. It's a matter for them."

Fellow SFF-turned-independent MP Helen Dalton believes the news is unlikely to alter the race.

"There's no way [the SFF believes it can win Orange in 2023]," she told the CWD.

"Phil Donato is too good a member and too good a bloke. He's very much in touch with his community and he does a good job.

"It's just another example of another hissy fit that [Mr Borsak] does have every now and again."

The comments come days after the SFF released a typo-filled statement attacking Dalton's "arrogant" support for gambling reform. It said, in part:

"She isn't anything other than elitist [sic] who lives in an apartment on Oxford st in Sydney, using her living away from home allowance to pay it off, at the expense of the taxpayer and constituent jobs.

"This isnt [sic] anything other than a vanity virtue signalling exercise ... supported by a rich irrigation farmer who doesn't give a toss about her ordinary bush constituents."

In response, Ms Dalton told the CWD: "Robert Borsak is just being vindictive really. He just needs to probably have a look in the mirror and see exactly who he's representing.

"People are tired of personal attacks ... no doubt he'll try and get down and dirty against Phil which is a real shame.

"He hasn't worked out yet that all it does is really discredit himself. I almost feel sorry for him that he doesn't understand people or the community."

Mr Donato and Orange City Councillor Glenn Floyd quit the SFF in December, 2022 citing "indefensible" comments made by Mr Borsak three months earlier.

Barwon MP Roy Butler defected at the same time, leaving upper-house members Mr Borsak and Mark Banasiak as the sole NSW representatives.

The exodus had a significant impact on the party. A statement from Mr Borsak the following day said, in part:

"Most of the freedoms Philip enjoys today are because of work the SFF and I put in over many many years ... [he] was still in primary school in short pants when this fight started.

"Many people have tried to take over our party for their own interests in the last 30 years. It'll survive these challenges long into the future."

Mr Donato won the Orange seat in 2016 by a razor 0.2 per cent. He was comfortably re-elected in 2019 with 65.18 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote.

The 2023 NSW state election is scheduled to take place on March 25. Early voting is now open.

As of January 17, Phil Donato and the National Party's Tony Mileto are the only Orange candidates registered with the AEC. Heather Dunn has won Labor preselection.

The NSW Greens, Liberal Democrats, and several independents are expected to launch campaigns before the March 8 cut off.

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