It’s coming up fast – the NSW State election is on Saturday, March 25 – and Labor has picked its candidate, 28-year-old Narrabri schoolteacher, Joshua Roberts-Garnsey, but with very little fanfare.
While Nationals’ candidate Annette Turner has been out and about highly visibly canvassing, and her promotional material has been hitting doormats across the city with some regularity, the Labor pick wasn’t even announced to local media.
A science teacher at Narrabri High School, Mr Roberts-Garnsey clearly has ground to make up though he says he is familiar with the north-east region of the electorate around Gwabegar and Coonabarabran, and claims he understands the needs of the electorate as a whole.
Despite not having previous experience running as a candidate, he has helped out on a number of campaigns, notably David Mehan’s successful 2019 NSW state election campaign in The Entrance electorate on the Central Coast, and has been a long-time member of the Labor Party.
“I’m running as a candidate because I grew up with a strong passion for community and because I was brought up in a house where my grandparents often spoke highly of the Labor Party, particularly Bob Hawke. I’ve always been very passionate about Labor and seeing its policies go through and they’ve done a lot of wonderful things for the people of Australia,” Mr Roberts-Garnsey told the Barrier Truth.
“When someone approached me at the end of last year asking if I was interested in running, I just had to throw my hat in the ring because I obviously grew up in this area and I know the area really well and I want to be a really big voice for the people of Barwon.”
His first-hand experience of the effects of the teacher shortage across NSW is one key area, he says, of his campaign in the upcoming election, as well as housing affordability and supply, plus endorsing Labor’s promises around boosting the Kids Helpline, taking action on suicide prevention, and addressing the shortage of staff in regional hospitals.
Mr Roberts-Gernsey believes he can poll strongly in Broken Hill, and across Barwon at the upcoming election.
“I think we need to start asking questions around the money that’s being promised into the community,” he said.
“I think that Broken Hill sits on a precipice of struggling with healthcare, struggling with education, and struggling with housing, and I think looking at the policies, I’d say that NSW Labor has the best policies to address those needs in the community. I would say that NSW Labor can bring this home by addressing these long outstanding issues that have been going on for far too long.”
While Mr Roberts-Gernsey will still be completing teaching duties until early March, he doesn’t think that will be a negative in his campaign, saying he works best on strict time constraints and that he will still have time to get out and about within the community.
“I think that people are really welcoming to see such a young and passionate candidate who’s grown up in the area,” he said.
“People should consider voting for me because I’m young and I’m passionate about the community. I know the community really well and I will advocate every single day if I’m elected for this community.”
