Speculation that the Nationals will run a candidate in the federal seat of Eden-Monaro for the first time since 1993 has seen a flurry of possible contenders being named in the last week.
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Three possible contenders have emerged from the Liberal camp - Dr Jerry Nockles, who is the head of government relations at UNICEF Australia and a former staffer to MP Peter Hendy; self-professed ‘Menzies Liberal’, former army engineer and communications strategist Nigel Catchlove; and Jim Molan.
Retired Major General Molan, widely credited with being the architect of the Coalition's Stop the Boats Australian border protection and asylum seeker policies, contested a NSW Senate seat for the Liberals at the 2016 federal election. When his bid failed, former prime minister Tony Abbott called it a "tragedy for our country and for our party".
Bronnie Taylor, a former Cooma-Monaro Shire councillor, is a possible candidate for the Nationals although she is in the second year of an eight-year term in the NSW Legislative Council. Another name that has been touted is Nationals’ deputy leader Fiona Nash, who may try to make a move from the Senate to the House of Representatives.
Labor's Jim Snow won the then bellwether seat in 1993, beating Liberal candidate Rob de Fegely, the Nationals' Tom Barry, two independents and a Natural Law Party candidate.
Liberal Gary Nairn seized the seat in 1996, with the help of preferences from independent Robyn Loydell - now Bega’s Cr Bain - in a field that also included Democrat, Greens, Australians Against Further Immigration, Call to Australia and Natural Law candidates.
Some Merimbula Liberals are understood to be "not unhappy" with the spectre of a three-way contest at the next election, saying a Nationals candidate could attract votes from far right-wing supporters of the likes of Pauline Hanson and Cory Bernardi, boosting the Liberal’s chances with preferences.
Mike Kelly, who defeated Dr Hendy in 2016 - said reports that the Nationals would run a candidate was “another clear sign of the dysfunction and disunity of a Turnbull government that is falling to pieces”.
“The last thing the people of Eden-Monaro need is two Coalition candidates bringing their Canberra political power games into our local politics again - just like Peter Hendy did when he used his house in Queanbeyan to plan the spill that brought down Tony Abbott,” he said.
The next election must be held between August 2018 and May 2019.
