Election over, return to getting things done for Barwon

The election is over and now we can look forward to getting more things done to make Barwon continue to improve, grow and thrive. It was another historic win for me.

In 2019 I was the first candidate not from a major party elected as the member for the seat of Barwon, which had been held by the Nationals (formerly known as the Country Party) since 1950.

Now I have become the first independent elected to the seat. The voters chose to keep the seat out of the hands of the National Party, despite the resources and time the Nationals poured into trying to win it back. The electorate made up its mind that they are not ready to languish again under a National Party member and have trusted me again to represent them.

It was a convincing win, around 50 per cent of the primary vote and over 60 per cent of the two candidate preferred vote (at the time of writing this). That suggests the voters decided that they do not want a major party. If they had voted National their member would now be languishing in opposition.

With the Labor government looking at a very narrow majority or even minority (the NSW Electoral Commission says that the count could continue until at least mid April), I can continue to be a strong voice for Barwon and all of regional NSW.

Although it looks like not much is happening until parliament sits, discussions are already taking place. When the vote count concludes and the new Labor government ministry is sworn in, I will be able to send correspondence again to put the issues of constituents before ministers.

In the meantime, I am busy taking down corflutes across the electorate.

Given the distances involved that will take some time. Once again I want to thank the people of Barwon for returning me for a second term, I want to thank my team who have put in a lot of work over the last four years, also I want to thank all those who volunteered to put up posters, to hand out at polling booths or to help out in a multitude of other ways and I want to thank my wife Jenny for joining me on the campaign trail and for all of her support over the last four years.

Unfortunately, it means she has to put up with another four years of not having me home very often.

More than thanks

Education is one of the priorities I will be pursuing in my second term. On March 20 I met with NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos at Narrabri. For years the Liberal/National government had been warned about a growing teacher shortage crisis, but failed to take any meaningful action to avert it. There are now 279 vacancies in the area that includes Narrabri but hundreds more across other parts of the electorate (3311 state wide is the most recent public data).

We’ve been raising these issues in parliament for a long time, but the government consistently failed to do what was needed.

No one would deny the importance of looking after teachers so they can look after our children.

We still have hundreds of students who will spend time on any given day without a teacher. We stand no chance of lifting educational outcomes to the same as the metropolitan area if we can’t attract and retain teachers.

The Teachers Federation gave the government a roadmap, it will now be up to the new Labor government to do something about it.

Bogged in Boggy

I had some interesting encounters in the lead up to the election. Given my tendency to get bogged, I think I have developed a good working knowledge of how to get someone un-bogged, which came in handy the week before last. I was visiting Boggabri to talk to local business owners including Jo, who owns Boggabri Hardware & Rural Supplies and is head of the local business chamber. Later I was walking back past her store when I noticed her forklift had become bogged (yes, it was bogged in Boggy). I had a new tow rope in my car, with which they were able to pull the forklift out of the mud.

Boggabri, like many Barwon Communities, has incredible opportunities for the future, but continued attention and investment from the government is key to that. As head of the local business chamber Jo is working with other local business owners to look for ways to grab any opportunities, attract government investment and to grow the local economy. Boggy is a great, resilient, self-reliant town but just like Jo and her forklift, sometimes they need a little outside assistance to help them move forward.

While in Boggabri I also grabbed a slushie from Boggabri Meat, which is not where you would normally expect to get an icy drink (no, it wasn’t beef flavoured). As I have said, Boggy is a great town, and I will do all I can to help it prosper and grow like every other town in the electorate.