A good personality seems to be going a long way in reaching disengaged Wagga voters during the NSW election campaign.
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The early voters who spoke to The Daily Advertiser outside the pre-polling centre on Monday said they were more interested in the personal virtues of the candidates than party platforms.
Pat, from Turvey Park said he was interested in how the candidates would represent Wagga on the issues like health, employment and the region's roads.
"I'm voting for who would make the best representative for this area," he said.
"It's more important than the party."
Primrose, from Wagga, said he had been convinced to vote in a different direction than normal by the "personal attributes" of a particular candidate, whom she declined to name.
"I listened to them being interviewed and I liked their general demeanor and outlook on the issues," she said.
Other voters turned up to the pre-polling centre to get voting out of the way.
"I just voted for the person with the best lies," said Mark, from Glenfield Park.
"I don't trust the major parties and I don't think much of the smaller ones either as I don't think they want what's best for people," he said.
Charles Sturt University associate professor in political science Dominic O'Sullivan said Wagga was experiencing a similar level of voter disengagement to many areas.
"There's a fairly significant dissatisfaction with the government but also not much confidence in the opposition," he said.
"People are feeling almost as if there's nowhere to go in terms of casting a vote for something positive."
Incumbent MP and independent Joe McGirr has been calling for the expansion of the Charles Sturt University campus in Wagga, help for the softwoods industry at Tumut and renewable energy.
Both Labor and the Nationals have concentrated their campaigns on social spending with a few overlaps such as on free TAFE courses.
Labor's Dan Hayes has promoted polices on nurse staffing rations, teacher and school funding and firefighter numbers.
The Nationals' Mackenna Powell has put forward concessions for the elderly, police numbers and major healthcare spending.
Professor O'Sullivan said the major parties across the state had based their campaigns on big spending promises.
"The one spending plan that is significantly different is the Sydney stadiums and the amount of money the Coalition wants to spend there takes money away from what's available for schools, hospitals, policing and transport," he said.
"They are the big spending items for state governments and obviously there's a need for more of them in Wagga.
"I think that's one thing that people will be interested in: big spending in Sydney means less for Wagga."
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