Federal election called – May 21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has this morning called an official start to a six-week federal election campaign with Saturday May 21 as the polling date.

The PM flew to Canberra this morning before visiting the Governor-General, Sir David Hurley, to ask him to dissolve Parliament.

The Prime Minister is campaigning for a fourth consecutive term for the Coalition in an election he framed as a choice between a “strong future and an uncertain one” with a heavy accent on the classic Coalition theme of economic management.

In our electorate of Macquarie – the most marginal in the country – the main battle will be between the sitting Labor MP Susan Templeman who is aiming for her third term and Liberal candidate Sarah Richards who is also a Hawkesbury councillor and is hoping to topple Ms Templeman but failed in 2019, although only 371 votes separated those two candidates by the end of that election.

Macquarie encompasses both the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains, with the former mostly voting Liberal in the last election and Blue Mountains mostly voting Labor.

Also in the race in our electorate and confirmed are candidates from The Greens, Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, and One Nation, with several other candidates either still deciding or seeking sufficient support to enrol. We’ll give you a complete overview very soon.

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