The political group ‘Anyone but Nats’ is also preparing to hold a ‘town hall’ event in Wagga next month.

Magazine publisher Colin Taggart, who quit as Wagga Liberal Party branch president last week, will stand as the Australian Conservatives candidate for Wagga.

Mr Taggart said the was a large body of potential voters who had been denied the opportunity to vote for a conservative Liberal candidate due to an agreement with the Coalition parties.

“There were 25,000 people who voted for the Liberals in Wagga four years ago, and this provides a safe place for their vote” he said.

“It provides a choice for Liberal voters, because at the moment they are disenfranchised; there’s no liberal party, there’s no conservative candidate.

“This gives them an option to register their Liberal and conservative values.” 

The Australian Conservatives party was founded in 2017 by former Liberal Senator for South Australia Cory Bernardi.

Mr Taggart has he was not concerned about the potential for the Australian Conservatives to damage the Coalition’s chances of retaking the seat from independent MP Joe McGirr.

“The Nationals very strongly threatened to cross the floor to have (former Wagga MP) Daryl Maguire expelled from Parliament despite the fact that he hadn’t been charged with anything,” he said.

“It’s wrong to say that voting for the Nationals is a safe vote to keep the Liberals in power.”

Also aiming to put pressure on the Nationals is ‘Anyone but Nats’, which describes itself is not a political party but a group that works with independent candidates to challenge long-held Nationals seats.

Anyone but Nats co-founder Charles Tym said there had been a lot of interest in Wagga, including from people who usually did not follow politics.

“There’s a lot more disillusionment with the current regime, especially in the areas that are held by Nationals,” he said.

“You have just got to look at the water issues, coal seam gas, coal mining governance and policing.

“There’s also a view that there’s a lack of priority on issues that affect regional areas.”