Opening salvo from NSW Nationals candidate Chris Gulaptis in ABC News item on 17 October 2011:
"So we've got $9 million for the Grafton Base Hospital's orthopaedic ward, $1.2 million for Maclean Hospital as well, $4 million for the Grafton Bridge,"….
"So there's money coming into this electorate right now and it's important that we continue to serve the people this way and that's what I'm trying to do as the Nationals' candidate."
Opening salvo from NSW Country Labor candidate Peter Ellem in ABC News item on 17 October 2011:
"He's the man who in 2007 described WorkChoices as a positive move," ….
"The Nationals chose a candidate yesterday who will do the bidding of the Liberal Party which has taken control of the new Coalition Government, a Government which is no friend of working people."
Opening salvo from the NSW Greens candidate Janet Cavanaugh in a media release on 18 October 2011:
“It is time to clean up NSW politics,” she said. “The Greens have a history of maintaining ethical stands across a range of issues. By acting with integrity, The Greens offer a better way of doing politics and this will result in better outcomes for the electorate.
“One of the key issues we are worried about is the threat posed by mining to our precious water supplies. There is the risk posed by antimony mining on the Dorrigo Plateau to the Coffs-Clarence regional water supply and our estuarine fisheries, and the potential for coal seam gas exploration to drain and poison groundwater reserves as well as wreck important farming land and wildlife habitat.
Opening salvo of Independent Wade Walker in a The Daily Examiner article on 19th September:
He said he wanted to run as an independent because it would allow him to best represent the Clarence electorate without having to make concessions to an overall party policy - he said areas such as health, emergency services and the Pacific Highway upgrade would be among the key areas he would campaign on.
* Recent telephone polling by ReachTel suggests that a Christian Democratic Party candidate might eventually declare an intention to stand, but to date there is no name in the public arena.
Assessment:
1. Chris Gulaptis stumbles as he leaves the gate.
a) The bulk of this alleged $9 million for Grafton Base Hospital comes not from The Nationals or the O’Farrell Government, but from the Federal Labor Government as officially set out here in September 2011: This Implementation Plan provides for the Commonwealth’s financial contribution of $6 million toward a $10 million upgrade of the Grafton Base Hospital. The New South Wales Government will contribute the remaining $4 million to this project.
The redevelopment is largely the result of a “very generous” bequeath that was left to the hospital, according to Dan Madden, executive officer of the Maclean hospital. Commonwealth funding has also come through over the last year for emergency departments Australia-wide, and the Maclean Hospital Auxiliary had also been effective and generous with its fundraising, he said.
c) Whilst the actual state funding set aside for a second Grafton Bridge appears intended to refine the preliminary route options for a second crossing point which initial NSW Roads & Traffic Authority had previously identified - so any new bridge is still far into the future:
2. Peter Ellem by keeping his observations to a minimum has fared better.
On the matter of opponent’s support for WorkChoices he is merely citing the facts as these 2007 Gulaptis quotes show:
3. Janet Cavanaugh went where both major party candidates have thus far been too timid to travel and, is reflecting voter concerns which cross more than one demographic. Mining on the NSW North Coast is currently a topical issue.
If this election campaign progresses along similar lines to past elections then both major parties will cravenly let The Greens do the heavy lifting on environmental issues and rarely speak out publicly, while privately assuring voters that they are really 'green' at heart themselves.
4. Wade Walker was probably the first to publicly declare that he was definitely standing in the 19 November Clarence By-election.
However, apart from the initial statement, he does not appear to have managed to get anything else into the local mainstream media.
please stand in the seat of clarence nsw by election the nats are on the nose.
One has to worry about the genuineness of the candidate's desire to contest this particular election
Scorecard
Gulaptis -1
Ellem 1.5
Cavanaugh 1
Wade Walker 0
Bethany Camac 0
Update:
Bethany Camac was identified today as the Christian Democratic Party candidate. Bethany stood at the March 2011 NSW state election. She is yet to make any by-election campaign statement which has been picked up by the media, so comes in with an equal zero rating with Wade Walker.
