IT IS interesting to see so much of this election campaign being played out on social media.
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Where, in the past, it’s been a post here and there, it’s really taken off this time around, and gives the voting public more of an input into the issues.
There’s been live streaming of the local candidates’ press conferences – which means you can watch it as it is happening.
But it also means that stories are changing throughout the day.
What started out as one issue might,at the end of the day, have a completely different tilt.
And that’s the way we like it, because it keeps the pollies on their toes, too.
It also gives the candidates from lesser known (or completely unknown) parties the chance to command a broader audience.
The electorate of New England covers quite the territory, spanning an area of 66,394 square kilometres stretching from the Queensland border in the north to Merriwa, Aberdeen and Scone in the south, where the main industries are listed as cattle, sheep, grain, forestry, dairying, oats, maize, fruit, vegetables, tin-mining, bricks, trout hatchery, tourism, concrete pipe works, leather goods, tannery, gemstones, tobacco, lucerne, honey, grain processing, rubber, plaster works and concrete.
It would be nice, but it’s a tough ask for the candidates to get around it all, even if there is another five weeks in the campaign.
Historically the seat has been one of the most conservative in Australia, but this time around there’s myriad choices, and the list grows every day.
Does it serve the people or split the vote?
The cynics amongst us would suggest it does the latter.
But no one would begrudge their right to throw their hat into the ring.
It also gives local people a conduit for local concerns, because after all, you never know until you ask the question.