Ten candidates running for Parkes at May 3 election

Ten candidates will vie for the votes of almost 130,000 electors in the Parkes electorate at the May 3 federal election.

The ballot order of candidates was drawn last week and published by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Candidates in drawn ballot order are: Mark Carter (Pauline Hanson’s One Nation), Stephen Pope (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party), Trish Frail (The Greens), Petrus van der Steen (Trumpet of Patriots), Bob Wilson (Indigenous – Aboriginal Party of Australia), Nathan Fell (Labor), Jamie Chaffey (The Nationals), Maurice Davey (Family First), Stuart Howe (independent) and Sally Edwards (Libertarian).

The current member Mark Coulton, of The Nationals, announced his retirement last year after serving as the division’s MP since 2007.

This year’s election will see Parkes also including voters from the Parkes, Forbes and Bland Shires while Gwydir Shire will move to the New England electorate.

For Narrabri Shire, voters will be able to cast their ballot papers at an early voting centre to be held at The Crossing Theatre band room from 9am to 4pm on Saturday, April 26, 8.30am to 5.30pm from Monday, April 28 to Thursday, May 1, and 8.30am to 6pm on Friday, May 2.

On election day (Saturday, May 3), polling places will include Narrabri Public School, Narrabri High School, Narrabri West Public School, Wee Waa Public School, Bellata War Memorial Hall, Baan Baa Community Hall, Boggabri Public School, Burren Junction Public School and Pilliga Public School.

Additional voting options include postal voting for people unable to get to a polling place, mobile voting for residential aged care and hospitals or telephone voting for people who are blind or have low vision.

Given the remote nature of parts of Narrabri Shire, postal voting is typically a sought after service in elections.

Applications for postal voting close at 6pm on Wednesday, April 30.

Australian Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said declarations of nominations are always a very important milestone in the enormous logistical operation that is running a federal election.

Mr Pope’s comments came as the Australian Electoral Commission confirmed 1456 candidates will contest the May 3 federal election across Australia for positions in both houses (the House of Representatives and the Senate).

“A record 18 million Australians are enrolled and able to cast their votes between Tuesday, April 22 and 6pm on election day (Saturday, May 3), at approximately 8,000 polling locations available across Australia,” Mr Pope said.

“This is the third election in a row at which we’ve set a record for Australia’s national enrolment rate.

“Record enrolment like this doesn’t happen by accident.

“It represents a huge amount of work on the part of the AEC to engage with voters and reduce barriers for enrolment, and of course a fantastic effort from eligible Australians to get enrolled.”