Bill Lodwick will return as the Labor candidate for Nicholls, announcing yesterday that he would be running again after standing against Damian Drum in 2019.
Noon tomorrow (Thursday, April 21) is the deadline for candidates to nominate for the May 21 federal election and, just 48 hours out, the announcement of a Labor candidate for Nicholls adds significantly to the interest in the election.
An official announcement will be made by the Australian Electoral Commission, in regard to candidates, at noon on Friday.
There are now seven candidates in the field, with a four-way battle developing between the Coalition candidates Sam Birrell (Nationals) and Steve Brooks (Liberal), Labor’s Lodwick and Independent Rob Priestly.
United Australia Party, One Nation and the Citizens Party have also nominated candidates.
Formerly known as the Murray electorate, prior to its re-naming in 2019, the seat has known only Coalition representation.
Former Country Party leader Sir John McEwen held the seat from 1949-71 and former deputy leader Bruce Lloyd was member from 1971 to 1996 — when he retired.
Pre-selection problems in 1996 for the Nationals saw Dr Sharman Stone win the seat for the Liberal Party at the 1996 election, until she retired at the 2016.
Damien Drum won that election and then in 2019 polled 51.3 per cent of the vote (48,855 votes) to win comfortably from Labor’s Bill Lodwick (19.4 per cent) and One Nation’s Rikkie Tyrrell (11.3 per cent).
There were eight candidates at the election, the Liberal party opting not to run a candidate in opposition to Mr Drum.