GREENS candidate David Harvey has given himself just a couple of weeks to build a profile as he contests the seat of Bathurst in the coming state election.
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Mr Harvey is confirmed as The Greens' candidate after the party made an 11th-hour decision to contest the March 23 poll.
He faces an uphill battle to claw back ground from The Nationals' Paul Toole, Labor's Beau Riley and Brenden May from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, but Mr Harvey can draw hope from The Greens' strong showing at the 2015 election where their candidate Tracey Carpenter secured about 10 per cent of the vote.
Mr Harvey contested the Bathurst Regional Council election in 2017, running as number three on a Greens' ticket headed by Councillor John Fry and Cathie Hale.
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He said he put his hand up to run after the local branch of The Greens failed to find another candidate.
"We're not expecting a great result but we thought it was important to provide the opportunity for people who wanted to vote Greens to be able to do so, and also to have a progressive candidate running," Mr Harvey said.
Mr Harvey believes there is a growing interest in "green" issues across the Bathurst electorate, but conceded the rate of change was gradual.
"We have a Greens councillor [John Fry] which is a first for Bathurst and we definitely have people here who want to vote Green," he said.
"Just how large that number is, we will have to wait and see."
Mr Harvey listed publicly funded renewable energy projects that would create local jobs, restoring TAFE, "properly funded public schools" and greater health funding as policy priorities for his party.
He objects to building a go kart track at the top of Mount Panorama and said it would make more sense for it to be included as part of the second track development.
“We must restore environmental and heritage protections that have been stripped by the major parties," Mr Harvey said.
“We must prioritise planning for people and our environment before private interests and private profits. Local community must have first say in protecting our precious public spaces from aggressive inappropriate development. The Greens commit to restoring our waterways back to health and bringing back biodiversity protections.
“My commitment is to be your voice and build sustainable regional communities and rural economies. We can only do this for the long term by committing to affordable clean energy, properly funding public services, conserving healthy ecosystems and protecting public spaces and cultural values.”
Mr Harvey has lived in Bathurst for 18 years with his wife and three daughters. He runs a food safety consulting and auditing business.
