Steve Cansdell avoided humiliating defeat at the ballot box by not nominating

Disgraced former Nationals MP for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, attempted to spin his second thoughts in The Daily Examiner on 21 January 2015:

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In the end when nominations closed there was only one candidate, so the by-election was cancelled and, the only nominee was elected by default.

Popular opinion is that people were not putting up their hands to serve as an elected councillor because democracy had finally died within Clarence Valley Council in October 2011 and, no-one wanted to be involved with what is perceived locally as dysfunctional decision making.