Katrina Hodgkinson runs as Nationals candidate against Warren Mundine in Gilmore

Updated

A former New South Wales National Party minister has confirmed she will be running against the Prime Minister's pick in the marginal seat of Gilmore.

Key points: Katrina Hodgkinson downplayed potential tensions within the Coalition as a result of her candidacy

ABC election analyst Antony Green said her nomination would have little impact on the results

The marginal seat of Gilmore was won in 2016 by just 1,503 votes





Katrina Hodgkinson retired from state politics in 2017 after serving for 18 years, four of which were as the Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Small Business.

After weeks of speculation, Ms Hodgkinson said she was ready to run against Warren Mundine, who was parachuted in by Scott Morrison last month — a decision that has confounded much of the Coalition base.

Ms Hodgkinson is already making herself known in Gilmore after spending the weekend visiting the Nowra Show to demonstrate she is not just another parachute candidate.

She downplayed the risk of splitting the vote from her Liberal colleagues and flaring tensions as a result of her nomination.

"The Liberal Party and the Nationals Party are a coalition and so preferences of course will be very important," she said.

"We're always very careful with that sort of thing, particular in any election, so I don't see that as an issue."

The Liberal Party candidate Mr Mundine, a former Labor Party national president, replaced outgoing Liberal member Ann Sudmalis as the party's candidate in Gilmore.

The seat was won in 2016 by just 1,503 votes.

In September, Ms Sudmalis announced she was quitting politics at the next election after complaining of "branch-stacking, undermining and leaks" gripping the party.

Ms Sudmalis said she was not formally backing any candidate at this stage, but urged voters to get behind either a National or Liberal.

"I'm backing both of the Coalition candidates," Ms Sudmalis said, adding that Gilmore could not risk having an independent or Labor representative.

"The best outcome would be having a strong Liberal candidate and strong Nationals candidate and may the best candidate win.

"For me to back one or the other at this stage is not the appropriate thing for me to do.

"I have actually been very honest and truthful with Warren Mundine and also honest with Scott Morrison.

"We are all trying to keep Labor out of Gilmore, that's the aim of the game."

'Disenfranchised Liberals' offer support

Former Member for Gilmore Joanna Gash has thrown her support behind Ms Hodgkinson, citing "disappointment and disgust" with the Liberal Party's decision to parachute a candidate into the seat.

"It wasn't a very easy decision but when I saw what had happened, it wasn't hard," Ms Gash said.

"The other, disenchanted Liberals will have to answer for themselves, I'm only concentrating on holding this seat for the Coalition and by doing that, I'll be supporting Katrina Hodgkinson.

"I'm hoping they'll consider a sensible alternative such as Katrina Hodgkinson."

Also among her supporters are Ian and Adele Hughes, who were the president and treasurer respectively in the Bay and Basin branch of the Liberal Party until a week ago.

The pair quit the party due to long-running concerns the party was becoming "autocratic", and Mr Mundine's installation as the party's candidate for Gilmore was "the straw that broke the camel's back".

"I believe Katrina's got the runs on the board, she's introduced herself in detail and we feel that Katrina would be a better fit for Gilmore than Grant Schultz," Mr Hughes said.

"Our community is an older community, however the demographics are changing down here, people are starting to fit and there's a lot of people coming down here who are from country areas and who are ex-Nats, and they'll be quite happy with Katrina running."

ABC election analyst Antony Green doubted Ms Hodgkinson's prospects and argued while she provided an alternative to Labor, the Nationals and their new candidate had little connection to Gilmore.

"I don't think [her] nominating has much impact on the results," Mr Green said.

"She'll probably just take votes off the Liberal party and they'll probably go back as preferences."

Nominations for the National Party close on February 15. The party declined to comment on whether anyone else had joined the race.

Mr Mundine has been contacted for comment.

Topics: elections, government-and-politics, state-parliament, nowra-2541, nsw

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