With Maguire quitting the Liberal Party to join the crossbench as an Independent amid his second scandal in six months, and with the NSW state election looming, there is no doubt that the Libs will pitch a new, (hopefully) corruption-free candidate for the seemingly safe liberal seat of Wagga for the 2019 NSW election.
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However, as One Nation, the Conservatives, the Labor party, the Greens and Daryl Maguire as an Independent are also suspected to be running. Could this flip Wagga from a safe liberal seat to a battleground seat?
Could we also see Labor picking up the seat for the first time since Eddie Graham was elected in 1941, because of the conservative vote being nicely split between several candidates? Only time will tell.
Gerard Letchford, Wagga
Don’t take things for granted
I have never been overly impressed by Darryl Maguire’s capacity to advocate well for anything let alone push a barrow for this area.
However, as I sit here reading today’s Advertiser I must admit to a new found admiration for the man.
What a persuasive and compelling argument for Wagga becoming a marginal seat he mounted at ICAC.
Surely an MP holding this seat by the skin of his teeth would not take so much for granted.
Terry Flanagan, Wagga
The future of the ABC
At its meeting in Sydney on June 16, 100 delegates of the Liberal Federal Council voted two-to-one that the ABC should be sold.
Two members of the Institute of Public Affairs have just published a booked entitled “Against Public Broadcasting: why we would privatise the ABC and how to do it”.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and ministers have said on television that the ABC will not be sold off.
Despite these assurances there is a widely felt fear that the ABC’s continued existence as an independent broadcaster is under very real threat.
Apart from the vite by the Liberal Federal Council and the active advocacy of the Institute of Public Affairs, there is the matter of the government’s savage cuts to the ABC funding: the latest $83 million in addition to the $254 million already lost.
There are now 1000 fewer employed by the ABC than four years ago. Yet the government gave $30 million to Fox Sports and has set aside $50 million to celebrate Captain Cook!
The ABC is valued by 80 per cent of the viewing and listening public and should be properly funded so that it can meet its obligations to the Australian people under its charter.
Ron Kirkland, Cootamundra
MLHD excellence awards
The red carpet event of the year for Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) staff will be held in Wagga on Friday, July 20.
The 2018 MLHD Excellence Awards ceremony celebrates the initiatives of staff and volunteers across the Murrumbidgee region and acknowledges the dedication employees have made over the year.
The evening will culminate in the presentation of the penultimate award – the Don Kendell Memorial Leadership Award.