Northern Tablelands independent candidate David Mailler, has labelled the Nationals Member for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall’s campaign for the March state election as disrespectful and superficial. Mr Mailler will run on the ticket as a (yet to be registered) Country Party of Australia supported Independent.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“People … are all sick of politicians who roll out at election time and claim the credit for grant funding that was almost always won by community volunteers, wading through reams of grant application papers,” Mr Mailler said.
“I know, because I have waded through that paper myself before. Mr Marshall has been very visible so far this election campaign, but I am waiting for him to address the real issues and tell us why his Party has failed to protect prime agricultural land or why his Party has failed to resolve grossly unfair native vegetation laws.”
Mr Marshall hit back and said he always paid tribute to the community.
“My role as an MP is to facilitate that and assist various groups in the community obtain as much government funding as we can, to advance various community projects,” Mr Marshall said.
“We’ve seen that recently with the Ashford Showground, Inverell Men’s Shed, the Linking Together Centre; I mean those things are often initiated by community groups, but the groups approach me wanting to know where they can get support and it’s my job to help them do that.”
Mr Mailler accused Mr Marshall of touting himself as an ‘Independent National’.
“Is he a National candidate or an Independent candidate? You can’t have an each way bet here. The communities in this electorate need a political champion and they need real action on the real issues affecting their viability and future,” Mr Mailler said.
Labor candidate Debra O’Brien said she could not agree more with Mr Mailler.
“Mr Marshall petitioning his own party for action says it all. He's trying to fool the people that he is not a part of the government that is privatising electricity assets, destroying TAFE and not listening to farmers,” Ms O’Brien said.
“But people are not as silly as he thinks. The only other reason he would need to petition, or fight his own people, is that they are not interested in what he, or the people of the Northern Tablelands, have to say. Why don't they want to listen? Could it be that they take us for granted?
“It’s time to kick the LNP out of the Northern Tablelands. They are all mouth and no trousers.”
Mr Marshall said he believed in putting people and issues first and letting the politics take care of itself.
