Local lawyer Stephen Lawrence is taking on a herculean task. He plans to take on the NSW Deputy Premier and leader of the Nationals Troy Grant in the expanded seat of Dubbo at next year's state election.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Country Labor candidate for Dubbo says he has been to Wellington several times in his job as an Australian legal aid solicitor and believes there is a great future for the town and hopes to champion it.
"Wellington is such a beautiful town with magnificent old buildings and I see a potential for your town to be a boutique one," Mr Lawrence said.
"I want to focus on Wellington particularly. I want people to be aware this seat needs to be tighter, not marginal, but more of a swinging seat."
Mr. Lawrence, recently returned from an Australian Civilian Corps deployment to Afghanistan, works as the principal legal officer (Western Region) for the Aboriginal Legal Service. He said he was looking forward to the upcoming election campaign against now Deputy Premier, Troy Grant.
"Dubbo deserves a local member who will stand up for our community. Instead, we have Troy Grant who chooses to further his own career by back-flipping on electricity privatisation and who continues to support Mike Baird's harsh cuts to health and education services," Mr Lawrence said.
"I am running because I believe our community deserves better, someone who is willing to stand up and fight for the local community rather than pursuing their own leadership ambitions.
"As long as the National Party ties itself to the city-centric Liberals, regional areas like ours will be neglected.
Mr Lawrence brings a wealth of community and legal experience with his candidacy, from his work both in Australia and overseas. He has previously been a prosecutor, a public defender in Solomon Islands and a government legal advisor in Australia.
Earlier this year he returned to Dubbo from Bagram, Afghanistan, where he worked at a United States managed national security court established to try Taliban detainees captured on the battlefield. He is a fierce advocate for victims of sexual assault and family violence, and has a strong commitment to Indigenous affairs and justice.
Mr Lawrence said he acknowledged that he faced a difficult task in unseating Deputy Premier Troy Grant, but he believed that the high margin for the National Party was surmountable due to Mr Grant's broken promises and the continued threat of electricity privatisation under a Coalition government.
"Unfortunately seats with a high margin can quickly become forgotten seats and I don't accept 'postcode' inequalities facing our community. We deserve someone who can fight to end these inequalities - which is something I am very used to doing on a daily basis," he said.
