Obeid link to Nats candidate questioned

Independent member for New England Tony Windsor said Mr Torbay should explain himself but Mr Torbay said Mr Obeid was one of several Labor people who had helped him get into politics and there had never been anything improper about their relationship.

Mr Windsor said it was hypocritical of Mr Torbay to criticise him for working with the Gillard government when Mr Torbay's own start in politics was sponsored by Labor and, of all people, Mr Obeid, who is at the centre of a corruption inquiry in NSW.

NSW Labor strategist and number cruncher Shane Easson told The Australian Financial Review that "towards the end of 1998, I got a call out of the blue from Eddie Obeid''.

"He said: 'I've got Richard Torbay with me and he wants to know whether he should run for (the state seat) of Northern Tablelands as either a Labor candidate or as an independent. I'll put him on.' ''

Mr Easson said he advised Mr Torbay, then an ALP member, to "destroy his ticket'' and run as an independent as he stood a better chance of winning the northern NSW rural and regional seat.

"For all intents and purposes, Torbay was a silent ALP member for most of his time in state Parliament,'' he said.

Mr Torbay has represented Northern Tablelands as an independent since 1999 but will run as the Nationals candidate for New England at the September 14 election in a bid to unseat Mr Windsor. He told the Financial Review his association with Mr Obeid was strictly professional as Mr Obeid was the duty member of the Legislative Council for the Northern Tablelands. "I really didn't know him until I got into Parliament,'' he said.

Mr Windsor, who has announced he is running again at the federal election, said Mr Torbay's "got a bit of explaining to do''.

"It seems as though being advised and mentored by Obeid means he's got a few questions to answer."