Nationals candidate for Nicholls Sam Birrell took to St Brendan’s Primary School’s voting station on Saturday, May 21, to cast his ballot.
Mr Birrell entered the school to vote on himself becoming the voice of Nicholls in Parliament House, the very same school he learnt his place in the community.
“The ethos that we got at this school was that you're not just out there to do something for yourself, you're there to do something for your community,” he said.
“So to walk into this place today and put yourself forward, vote for yourself and putting yourself forward to do something for the community, is being true to what I learned at this school and the other schools that I went to and from this community.”
Mr Birrell admitted the Nicholls race would be tight among candidates, he said this aided in the use of the Nationals campaign tactics.
He said it’s hard to know whether the tactics ‒ such as robocalls, letters and attack ads ‒ would affect votes.
“I mean, reflecting that those are things done in tight electorates around Australia and people in cities are used to it, people perhaps aren’t used to it here because it’s probably been a bit safer,” he said.
“We could do it better in the future, I will say that and change takes time but good, positive people in major parties is the best way to make change in my opinion, and that’s why I’m running for this electorate.”