Residents of the federal electorate of Richmond will have the opportunity to be represented by an outstanding local champion, following the preselection on Saturday of Bilambil local Matthew Fraser, according to North Coast Nationals Senator, Fiona Nash.
“There were four very strong local candidates, any one of whom would make a great MP, so it was a difficult choice for the 89 local grassroots Nationals who gathered at the Cudgen Leagues Club for the party’s democratic preselection,” Senator Nash said.
The meeting heard each candidate speak for 10 minutes and answer questions from the floor for a further 10 minutes.
The ballot was then conducted, with each and every party member present entitled to one vote.
“Matthew Fraser has all the right credentials: a great family man, a passion for his community and strong commitments, particularly in the areas of small business, jobs for young people and cost of living pressures,” Senator Nash said.
“He is up against a Labor MP with a well-oiled spin machine and all the benefits of incumbency, but she can’t hide the fact that it is because of her and her Labor colleagues that we now have a carbon tax,” she said.
“As I campaign alongside Matthew Fraser in the coming months, I will be reminding locals that the only way to get rid of the Gillard Labor Government is to vote out the local Labor MP.”
Senator Nash congratulated the other candidates and praised their commitment to supporting Mr Fraser’s campaign.
“The Nationals are like a family and we will work tirelessly together to deliver Richmond residents the strong local MP they have desperately needed for the past eight years,” Senator Nash said.
The electorate of Richmond includes the Tweed and Byron local government areas as well as the towns of Lennox Head and Nimbin.
Federal Member for Richmond Justine Elliot said she had a strong record of delivering for the North Coast.
“I’m proud as the Local MP to have delivered more than $1 billion for local schools, roads, and community and health infrastructure,” Ms Elliot said.
“I am sure that Matthew Fraser is a nice bloke, but they say that about Geoff Provest too, but a nice bloke gets run over by the Liberals once they are in Government,” she said.
“You only have to look at the National Party in the State Government to see the damage they are doing to regional communities by slashing thousands of jobs and services, so just imagine the damage they’d do if they were elected to the Federal Government.
“What north coast voter would have thought that a National Party member would be allowing more than 100 jobs at Grafton Jail to go or who would have thought the National Party would sit back and let the Liberals replace an overnight emergency doctor with a video camera at Mullumbimby hospital?
“To make matters worse, when the Nationals are held to account like the Pottsville High School, they simply deny that they made the promise or say the so-called bureaucrats won’t let them build a high school,” Ms Elliot said.
