Leaders tested as gun fired in race for seaside seat
NSW Labor on Thursday confirmed former journalist and union official Katelin McInerney as its candidate bidding to win the coastal seat of Kiama on September 13 and inch the party closer to majority government.
But the by-election, triggered by former MP Gareth Ward being jailed for rape, has heralded the first test of the Liberal leader Mark Speakman's electoral chops.
Mr Speakman will hope to stave off internal challengers by winning over voters who backed Ward in 2023 after he was banished from the party.
Five by-elections have been held since the last election but Kiama is the first true Liberal-Labor battle, election analyst Ben Raue told AAP.
"Speakman has struggled to break through and so there could be implications for him, in terms of his leadership if they don't do well," Mr Raue said.
"By-elections, historically, have often been triggers for changes in party leadership."
The importance Labor is placing on the contest was reflected by Thursday's visit to the seat by Premier Chris Minns.
He unveiled Ms McInerney, a Kiama local, as the candidate trusted by party officials to turn the former safe seat red for the first time since 2011.
Ward edged out Ms McInerney by fewer than 700 votes in 2023 but a large swing to Labor in upper house polling places it in the box seat to win it back.
The government has not run a candidate in any other by-election since 2023.
"We're nervous about the by-election, but we're also determined to fight for every single vote in the next few weeks," the premier said.
The police investigation into Ward sparked his exit from the Liberal Party in 2021 and his suspension from parliament in 2022, before voters re-elected the charged man in 2023.
"The people of Kiama have had uncertainty for the better part of five years ... people are telling me they want a strong voice in parliament," Ms McInerney said.
Mr Raue said electoral baggage from Ward's status as a long-time Liberal MP would likely harm the opposition's chances.
Mr Speakman downplayed his party's chances ahead of unveiling the Liberal candidate on Friday.
The Liberals ran a candidate in 2023, but garnered only one in eight votes with many local branch members refusing to try to dislodge the incumbent Ward.
"I'm prepared to take the fight up to the government and, more importantly, to give the people of Kiama a choice," Mr Speakman told ABC Radio Sydney on Wednesday.
Ward is in prison awaiting sentencing for offences including sexually assaulting an intoxicated political staffer after a parliamentary event in 2015.
He was also found to have sexually abused a drunken 18-year-old man in 2013.
Ward intends to appeal his convictions.
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