Well known Broken Hill local and councillor David Gallagher has been pre-selected to run for the National Party in the seat of Barwon at the upcoming NSW state election.
Cllr Gallagher was up against White Cliffs resident Annette Turner, a former president of the NSW Country Woman’s Association in the race for pre-selection held in Cobar last Saturday.
Going up against popular sitting member Roy Butler, from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, come the March election, Cllr Gallagher will be vying for the biggest seat by area in the NSW Legislative Assembly, taking in approximately 44% of the state’s land mass, some 356,292 square kilometres.
The seat was previously held by the Nationals until Mr Butler snatched victory in the 2019 election with just a 2.5 per cent margin on first preference votes.
Having held the seat since 1950, the National Party, and its predecessor the Country Party, are likely to put a great deal of effort in to win back this jewel-in-the-crown regional seat.
It is gearing up to be a hard-fought campaign with Mr Butler saying a couple of weeks ago he was contacted by someone who said that they had been called by a market research company conducting a phone poll and one of the questions suggested he would be standing for a different party in 2023.
“The poll was not initiated by my party but was most likely the sort of game designed by opponents to destabilise and undermine incumbents, and to cause uncertainty in an electorate,” Mr Butler said.
“We are six months out from the election and, as I said, it is beginning to look a lot like a campaign.
“Given the current state of the government, still reeling from a series of problems and scandals, they will need to do some hard work to make up for lost ground.”
