By MATT NICHOLLS
BOOKMAKERS say Nationals candidate David Gillespie is the unbackable favourite to win the seat of Lyne at the 7 September election, but his Labor rival says he’s not going down without a fight.
“The only poll or numbers I’m interested in at this stage is on election day,” Labor candidate Peter Alley said.
“There seems to be some sort of belief that Lyne is a conservative seat, but the fact is that it’s an Independent one at this stage.
“I’m certainly skeptical that it’s a conservative electorate.”
Online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au yesterday had Mr Gillespie the $1.01 favourite ahead of Mr Alley ($13) and Palmer United Party candidate Troy Wilkie ($26).
Even when incumbent MP Rob Oakeshott was still believed to be in the running, Mr Gillespie was considered a $1.08 chance by the oddsmakers.
But despite the consensus that he is the hot favourite to win Lyne on September 7, Mr Gillespie isn’t taking anything for granted.
“I’ll be campaigning right up to the election, that’s for sure,” he said.
“I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve been doing and that’s getting out in the community and talking to people.”
It’s been a long campaign Mr Gillespie, who was pre-selected by the Nationals to take on Rob Oakeshott in July last year.
“It has been a long time, but it’s given me the opportunity to visit all parts of the electorate,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Alley said there was a chance Prime Minister Kevin Rudd could visit the electorate between now and the election.
“We’ll just have to wait and see, but don’t read anything into that,” he said.
“I’ve invited Kevin Rudd to visit – I spoke to him on the phone a few weeks ago – but whether he has the time to get here, I don’t know.”
Clive Palmer, the leader of the Palmer United Party, has already flown into the electorate to drum up support for candidate Troy Wilkie.
Mr Wilkie said people in Australia and Lyne were sick of the bickering between the major parties and were ready for a change.
“There’s always a mixed reaction when you announce that you’re running in a federal election, but people have been generally warmed to an alternative choice,” he said.
The Port Macquarie resident said he would focus on reducing the cost of living if elected.
“There’s a lot of pressure on families in Port Macquarie and the electorate,” he said.
“We really need to do something to ease that cost of living pressure.”
Greens candidate Ian Oxenford said it was unlikely Christine Milne would visit the electorate before the election.
“We’ve had a few Greens representatives visit already and John Kay, a senior Greens MLC will be with me in the electorate on August 17,” Mr Oxenford said.
Like many of his fellow candidates, Mr Oxenford said Lyne residents should not expect a landslide win to the Nationals.
“I think a lot of the non-Nationals candidates think David Gillespie is quite vulnerable,” he said.
“People have had a taste of the good life under Rob Oakeshott with $1.2 billion coming our way during his time and I don’t think they really want to have a Nationals MP.”
Christian Democratic Party candidate John Klose said he would use the election campaign to query the policies of the major parties in a bit to “keep them honest”.
“We don’t have the funding like some of the other parties, so we rely on the goodwill of newspapers to get our message across,” Mr Klose said.
“We’ll be debating issues like same-sex marriage in the campaign and try to make sure the major parties are accountable.
“Policy on the run is not good policy and we want to see things go through cost benefit analysis first.”
