BREAKING NEWS: RICHARD Torbay has broken his silence after being dumped late yesterday as The Nationals candidate for the federal seat of New England.
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In a statement issued just before midnight on Tuesday, Mr Torbay said he had sought and would act upon legal advice in relation to an “ongoing smear campaign”.
State chairman of the NSW Nationals, Niall Blair, confirmed in a statement last night that the party asked Mr Torbay to withdraw his candidacy and resign in the wake of information received in the past 24 hours.
The withdrawal is an embarrassment for the Nats, which held up the popular State Member for Northern Tablelands as a prized catch, and a real chance of unseating incumbent federal New England MP Tony Windsor.
Mr Torbay, who has suspended his Twitter account, said in the statement that “a number of claims have been made today by the Labor Party and Tony Windsor’s office”.
“I have decided in the interests of the people of the New England electorate and the National Party to withdraw my candidacy for the forthcoming federal election," he said.
“Given the current toxic political environment I do not want to put my family, the community or myself through an ongoing smear campaign.”
The federal leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, was reportedly due to visit the New England on Friday to launch Mr Torbay’s campaign.
Mr Blair said the party would “immediately proceed to preselect a new candidate for the seat of New England at the earliest opportunity”.
“(The Nationals) will provide a strong community champion to take the fight up to Tony Windsor and the Gillard Labor government,” he said.
The statement from The Nationals said the party was seeking legal advice on the information they had received and would make no further comment.
Queensland Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce has already signalled his renewed interest in the seat, telling Fairfax Regional Media yesterday that he would “absolutely” consider throwing his hat in the ring in the battle for New England.
While he did not know the details of Mr Torbay’s resignation, the Queensland senator said on Tuesday night he had always been “consistent” in declaring his interest in the seat.
He said the decision as to whether he would be a candidate was up to the electorate council.
Background
Mr Torbay, a long-time Independent State MP, surprised many when he confirmed he would run for Nationals pre-selection for the federal seat of New England last June.
But he made clear the move would be contingent on him retaining the right to speak out for his region.
“I want to be upfront with the party, in that I’m not going to change my advocacy of being able to speak up and speak out, and on occasion, where necessary, vote in accordance with the strong views of the community,” Mr Torbay told The Land last June.
At the time, Mr Torbay said the Independent brand had been “completely trashed” at a federal level since the last election.
“Everywhere you go now people use terms like ‘are you a Labor Independent or a Coalition Independent’,” he said.
“I think the Independents – and I acknowledge in difficult circumstances given the last election – some of them have felt the need to support the Labor side under any circumstances, and I don’t believe that’s done the brand much good at all.”
- with Fairfax Regional Media
