Community pre-selection pioneer speaks out as Albany heads to the polls to pick Nationals WA candidate

Albany voters have until Saturday to have their say on who the Nationals WA put forward as their candidate for the seat of Albany ahead of March’s State election. Leader Mia Davies revealed in the Advertiser in June her party would set off on a historic community pre-selection process to determine who would contest for the Great Southern’s marquee electorate. “We’re asking the people of Albany to tap someone on the shoulder and say, ‘We think you’d be a great member of Parliament’,” Ms Davies said at the time. It is believed to be a political first for WA. For the last month, Delma Baesjou, Darren Bennett and Rod Pfeiffer have been making their case to local voters as the three self-nominated preselection candidates. Voting for the nominees closes on Saturday, with the successful candidate expected to be announced by the party that night. Ms Davies has admitted the community preselection move is a risky one, however, it has proved a success for her counterparts in NSW. Former journalist Kevin Anderson beat three other aspiring parliamentarians in 2011 to secure his place on the Nationals NSW’s ticket for the seat of Tamworth. That 2011 race was the first time the Nationals had undertaken a community preselection process anywhere in Australia, according to Mr Anderson. He has since gone on to become a minister in NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s Government. “I think there needed to be a shift in community thinking, because once people get set in their ways, they tend to justify that same path without having a look at what options are available,” Mr Anderson said. The NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation can remember the cold, windy June day in 2011 when the Tamworth community turned out on the preselection polling day “It was non-compulsory but we still had 5000 people turn up,” he said. “They treated it very seriously.” Votes in the Albany preselection process can be cast at the party’s campaign office at the corner of York Street and Peels Place. The successful nominee will take on Labor’s Rebecca Stephens, Liberal Scott Leary and One Nation’s Michelle Kinsella at the State Election on March 13.