The Land says: IT continues to be a frosty winter for the NSW Nationals: The good work in the state budget clouded by ongoing Murray-Darling management worries, shenanigans over Shenhua’s mining licence, and farm groups worried about the native vegetation regime rollout.
Now there’s going to be another mid-spring by-election in a regional seat where forced council mergers have been contentious.
That last bit sound familiar?
The resignation of Cootamundra MP Katrina Hodgkinson will trigger a rural by-election nearly year after the ‘safe’ seat of Orange famously slipped from the Nats’ grasp.
Again, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party is lurking, and they reckon they’re in with a shot.
They say their membership is even higher in Cootamundra than in Orange, and will no doubt point out that Orange has seen an increase in attention from government since locals revolted and went with the Shooters.
They’ll be announcing a candidate soon, while Labor has already come bursting out of the blocks, announcing 2015 election candidate Charlie Sheahan.
While Orange and Cootamundra are very different seats, it is easy to compare and speculate.
Gundagai residents, like many in Cabonne, Blayney, and Orange, are pretty filthy with forced council mergers – even if the animosity doesn't seem to be uniform across the Cootamundra electorate.
However, Ms Hodkinson’s floor-crossing exploits on the Greyhound racing ban should negate any traction rival parties might seek to gain from the Orange play-book.
The NSW Nats have learned some harsh lessons these past nine months, with the scars of Orange a reminder of what complacency leads to.
Under John Barilaro the party has vowed to reboot and reconnect with the bush.
The love certainly flowed during the recent budget spend, and stacks more is surely sitting in government’s wallet as we head for the 2019 election.
And so if the Nats have truly embraced their Barilaro-era mantra, learned from the pain of Orange, and are extremely wary of what its opponents are capable of, there should be nothing to worry about, right?
There would be no excuse for losing Cootamundra after such a public realignment.
No doubt the Nationals know this.
