AUSTRALIANS will go to the polls on Saturday, May 3, with the Parkes electorate fielding five candidates vying to fill a very big pair of shoes left by retiring Nationals’ MP Mark Coulton.

The Nationals candidate Jamie Chaffey, Labor Party’s Nathan Fell, Libertarian Sally Edwards, Family First’s Maurice Davey and Trish Frail from The Greens are on the campaign trail as the countdown to election day continues.

Nathan Fell is a Broken Hill local who has spent his professional career working in the mining sector. He says he understands the unique challenges facing communities across rural and regional New South Wales.

Mr Fell serves on the Barrier Industrial Council, Landcare Broken Hill Executive Committee, and is a Mining and Energy Union delegate to the Trades Trust Hall.

“Parkes has been built on the strength of our mining and agricultural sectors. I am proud to work in the mining industry, and it is vital that we support these sectors to ensure that workers can live secure, dignified lives whilst contributing to our nation’s economy,” Mr Fell said.

Sally Edwards has spent her lifetime living and volunteering across rural and remote Australia and for the past 18 years has farmed with her husband and family at Coolah, in the Warrumbungle region.

Ms Edwards is known as a passionate advocate for rural Australia and her background includes experience across tourism and hospitality, roles across the beef supply chain, small business owner, and has more than 10 years’ experience in rural community development.

“If elected, I will stand to protect and support family, small business and the rural way of life,” she said.

Trish Frail, a Ngemba woman from Brewarrina in western New South Wales, is a published author, having successfully written a book called First Nations Principal of Culture Bible.

“I’m currently negotiating with my publisher for a second book,” Ms Frail said.

After 17 years as member for Parkes, Mark Coulton is retiring from politics, leaving the door open for a new member.

She is in her second term as a councillor on Brewarrina Shire Council, and has sat on a number of boards and committees, including Brewarrina Hospital Board and NSW Government housing committee.

Ms Frail is a co-founder of the Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre and co-convenor of the Australia Free Nuclear Alliance.

“As a writer, small business owner, elected representative and hard-working member of community committees and boards, I’m well placed to represent the Parkes electorate in Parliament,” she said.

“As a Greens candidate, I am 100 per cent committed to working with the community to prioritise the environment and get it back on track.”

Maurice Davey is a fourth generation farmer and grazier in the central west of New South Wales and is says he is thankful for his multi-generational Christian heritage.

Married to Merren for 41 years, they have four married children and nine grandchildren.

Mr Davey says he is focused strongly on the preservation and active nurture of the family unit, and “recognising it as the basic building block of a happy and prosperous society”.

He says it was a natural progression to align himself with Family First.

The basic platform of “family” lends itself to all policy and legislative initiatives within government, recognising “what is good for families is good for a nation”.

Mr Davey says “he loves working with people and community, adheres strongly to the Judeo Christian ethic and endeavours to approach issues in life with logic and commonsense”.

The Nationals candidate Jamie Chaffey has been campaigning for several months in what is regarded “a very safe seat”.

Mr Chaffey  was born and raised in regional New South Wales and has lived in the Gunnedah community since 1991.

He’s a former mayor of Gunnedah, a boilermaker by trade, and was in small business in Gunnedah for nearly 30 years.

“I am passionate about regional Australia and will work hard to continue the legacy of Mark Coulton, advocating tirelessly to ensure our region gets its fair share,” Mr Chaffey said.

His priorities for the Parkes electorate include working with the electorate to understand the changing needs of communities and how to best serve the region; advance the completion of the Inland Rail project; empowering population growth and foster sustained opportunities for regional people; and enhance value through processing regional commodities, and creating jobs in raw agricultural product sectors.

Mr Chaffey’s long-term objectives are increasing water availability in the Northern Basin and securing prosperity and career opportunities for youth.

Retiring member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, said his time as the 1029th member elected to the Australian Parliament has officially come to an end with the announcement of a May 3 election.

“I thank my family, colleagues, staff and The Nationals for their unwavering trust in me to do this job,” Mr Coulton said.

“I will be forever grateful for the people of the Parkes Electorate and the support they have shown me over the past 17 years.

“I said in my first speech that I have a deep and unshakeable belief in inland Australia; and I still believe that to this day.

“There is no better place to live in the world than Australia, and no better place in Australia to live than in western New South Wales.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the people of the Parkes electorate,” Mr Coulton said.

Parkes covers large parts of western New South Wales, stretching from Dubbo in the south-eastern corner of the seat to Moree in the north-west and Broken Hill in the west.

The electorate covers twenty local government areas – Bland, Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Broken Hill, Central Darling, Cobar, Coonamble, Dubbo, Forbes, Gilgandra, Gunnedah, Lachlan, Narromine, Moree Plains, Narrabri, Parkes, Walgett, Warren and Warrumbungle.