- Bligh unveils 20-year infrastructure plan
- Torres Strait pleads for climate change action
- Overcrowding in parliamentary precinct worsens, Opposition says
- Minister apologises for 'boisterous' comment
- Junee senator questions Australian Quarantine rules
- Carbon price 'disastrous' for mining companies
- Local MP urges PM's carbon tax tour to visit Riverina
Not contesting Bennelong this year
There has been a rumour doing the rounds that I will be contesting Bennelong this year. I have no intention of doing so for a number of reasons. Firstly, I do not have time this year to engage in a full election campaign. Secondly, the scale of the ALP campaign in Bennelong this year is likely to make it even harder for an independent to get decent coverage than it was in 2004. Finally, running as an independent is a huge amount of work &emdash; you do not have the established base of party members to help run the campaign, or the financial resources of a party behind you, and I am not inclined to spend that amount of time and resources again to influence a small fraction of the vote.