Independent: Rob Priestly speaking at the Committee for Greater Shepparton's candidates' forum.
Photo by
Max Stainkamph
With the nominally safe seat of Nicholls going down to the wire, the Nationals have rebutted claims independent Rob Priestly was offered the candidacy but Mr Priestly has also rejected Nationals campaign material that links him to Labor.
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There has been a concerted effort by the Nationals over the final weeks of the campaign to link Mr Priestly to the ALP, including suggesting he was backed or endorsed by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in a flood of text messages to voters on Monday night.
In the face of repeated claims of ALP affiliation Mr Priestly, who maintains he is independent of any party, released a video on Sunday in which he confirmed publicly for the first time that he was approached by the Nationals about running for the party in Nicholls.
On Monday the Nationals hit back with a statement from Victorian president Neil Pankhurst.
The Nationals’ man: Sam Birrell speaking at the Committee for Greater Shepparton's candidates' forum.
Photo by
Max Stainkamph
“Rob Priestly is misleading the community by repeatedly claiming that ‘the Nationals asked me to run as their candidate’ at this Federal Election,” he said.
“Candidates for the Nationals are preselected by our local members.”
Mr Pankhurst said there were a number of senior Nationals having conversations to gauge interest in people putting their name forward.
"Sam Birrell and Mr Priestly were two of a number of people who were approached,” he said.
Mr Priestly said he was approached directly by senior members of the Nationals, including Victorian parliamentary leader Peter Walsh.
“The intent clearly was that I would be the selected candidate,” Mr Priestly said.
“It is a bit much for them to now be saying I’m a Labor stooge. They didn’t believe it then, and they don’t believe it now.”
The News asked Mr Pankhurst to clarify his comment regarding selection of candidates given Mr Walsh has recently backed Kim O’Keeffe as the candidate for the state seat of Shepparton.
“It is still up to the members to decide — even the leader of the parliamentary party can’t usurp that,” he said.
Both sides argue the real issue is integrity.
“It’s one thing to put ‘integrity’ on a sign. It’s another thing entirely to actually demonstrate it,” Mr Pankhurst said.
Mr Priestly said the politics being played was exactly why he chose to run as an independent.
“Unfortunately it just reflects how grubby politics has become and why our campaign to bring better standards to parliament is so important,” he said.
