A CHRISTIAN Democratic Party candidate who does not even live in the Bathurst electorate has won the second preference of incumbent MP Paul Toole ahead of the March 28 election.
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Nationals’ how-to-vote cards being handed out at pre-polling advise supporters to vote one for Mr Toole and two for Narelle Rigby from the CDP (Fred Nile Group).
This comes just days after Mr Toole himself described the two out-of-town candidates for Bathurst – Ms Rigby from Mount Colah and No Land Tax’s Tom Cripps (Smithfield) – as “complete unknowns” in the electorate.
Unlike federal elections where voters must place a number against every name on the Lower House ticket, NSW runs a system of optional preferential voting that means simply placing “1” against your favoured candidate is a valid vote.
Country Labor’s Cassandra Coleman has advised just that on her how-to-vote cards, meaning she is not preferencing any other candidate, while The Greens’ Tracey Carpenter has produced how-to-vote cards asking supporters to give Ms Coleman their second preference.
Mr Toole, who admitted he had never met Ms Rigby, said his decision to preference her was an acknowledgment of the CDP’s support for increased funding for non-government schools.
He hoped the CDP would reciprocate by placing him second on their how-to-vote cards but no concrete deal was in place.
“This [Bathurst] is going to be a two-horse race between the Nationals and Labor so this is about the importance of picking up preferences from the other parties,” Mr Toole said.
“Clearly we can see that Labor has done a deal with The Greens across a number of seats.”
Ms Carpenter said her decision to preference Labor was a decision based “not on personality or talent, but purely on policy” and was disappointed Ms Coleman had not returned the favour.
“We wanted to preference any party that would help resist the Nationals’ bid to privatise the poles and wires,” Ms Carpenter said.
“But I’m very disappointed that Labor aren’t showing the same concern and aren’t as serious about the sell-off of NSW as they say they are.”
Ms Coleman said she found it “odd” that Mr Toole would preference a candidate from outside the electorate.
She said she had not swapped preferences with The Greens because “we don’t need to”. “Our how-to-vote card speaks for itself,” she said.
The Western Advocate contacted the head office of both the Christian Democratic Party and No Land Tax seeking to speak with their local candidates but is still waiting to hear back.
