As veteran Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch prepares to farewell politics, Cape York and Torres Strait voters are waiting to see which candidates will fight to represent them in Canberra when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the federal election. Photo: Supplied.
As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remains mum on when he intends to call this year’s federal election, Cape York and Torres Strait voters are playing a waiting game to see which candidates will be battling to represent them in Canberra for the next three years.
So far, only two candidates have been confirmed – former basketballer Matt Smith for Labor and paramedic Jeremy Neal for the Liberal National Party (LNP) – despite suggestions Mr Albanese could pull the trigger on calling an election within a fortnight.
Candidates will be vying to replace retiring LNP stalwart Warren Entsch, who has called time on a political career spanning more than a quarter of a century.
Speculation had been rife the Greens would not be running a candidate against Mr Smith in return for Labor’s advocacy for World Heritage recognition for Cape York, however, a party spokesperson confirmed this would not be the case.
“I can confirm that the Queensland Greens will be running candidates in every seat in the state, as we have proudly done in every federal election for decades now,” the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for One Nation said the party was still finalising its candidate selection and that “we will announce one in due course”.
When voters last visited the federal ballot boxes, Phillip Musumeci received 9.97 per cent of first preference votes for the Greens, while serial candidate Geena Court secured 7.44 per cent flying the One Nation flag.
Eleven candidates ran in the 2020 election for Leichhardt, with Mr Entsch overcoming a small voter swing to retain the seat over Labor’s Elida Faith with 53.44 per cent of two-party preferred votes.
