Down to the wire for Priestly

By Daneka Hill

Apr 11, 2022

When Independent candidate for Nicholls Rob Priestly launched his campaign on a rainy Friday night, all talk was about how tight the political battle will be.

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“We started with zero and now it’s neck and neck,” Mr Priestly said of the predictive polling being done.

Man of the hour: Rob Priestly. Photo by Daneka Hill

“Winning in such a safe seat is hard, yet at this moment we are a hair’s breath from doing just that, and we’re already making change because the major parties are taking notice.”

Former Independent member for Indi Cathy McGowan attended the campaign launch to rev up the bright orange crowd of volunteers.

Ms McGowan broke the task down into simple figures.

“We need 25,000 people in Nicholls who’ll put Rob first,” she sad.

“Then we need 20,000 who’ll put him second. Those 20,000 will be the dissatisfied National voters, the Liberal, Labor and Greens voters.”

Ms McGowan predicted the vote in Nicholls would require a recount.

Rally call: Cathy McGowan speaks to the crowd Photo by Daneka Hill

“I needed 25,000 first votes and then I needed to get the swing vote when I first ran. My Liberal opposition got 42,000 first preferences, but I had the second preferences and won by 429 votes,” Ms McGowan said.

“You want to win by 439 votes, because losing by 439 votes isn’t fun. That’s how close this electorate will be.”

She instructed the Rob Priestly campaign volunteers to “wear out the orange” in their shirts and win the ‘’sign battle” on the major street corners.

Mr Priestly promised more resources for aged care, regional telecommunications and GPs in his rally speech.

“Becoming a marginal seat fixes these problems,” he said.

“This moment won’t come again — we’re got a retiring local member, we’ve got a candidate and we’ve got a national attitude for change. If we don’t do this now, we’re looking down the barrel of another 20 years of the same.”