Could the local seat of Calare — which takes in the circulation area for Orange City Life — be seeing an independent challenge for the first time since Peter Andren’s famous victory in 1996?

Environmentalist Kate Hook’s chances in the upcoming Federal election ticked upwards after getting top spot on the ballot at the recent draw.

Sitting National Party member and Federal Minister, Andrew Gee, came in second last on the ballot with three other women candidates standing — Stacey Whittaker in second place for One Nation; Kay Nankervis for the Greens, third; and Sarah Elliott for the Labor Party, fourth.

Rounding out the sixth and last candidate is Adam Jannis for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party. Most candidates were recently represented in person or with volunteers at the busy Bathurst Show which draws nearly 20,000 locals each year.

National polls showing that a third of voters are intending to give their first preference to independents and smaller parties in the Saturday, May 21 vote, could open up a challenge to the three majors in the closely fought election.

Hook, a well-known, Orange-based environmental entrepreneur, is considered the only likely challenger to Gee as the Liberals are not running a candidate and Labor has not held the seat since Hawke Government Minister, David Simmons in the early 1990s.

Hook sees the size of the electorate, created only five years after Federation in 1906, as a major challenge for an independent candidate.

“It’s certainly a challenge, getting our message to every corner of the electorate from Mudgee and Rylstone in the north, to Canowindra, Molong, and Dubbo.

“I have been physically in a lot of towns throughout the electorate, just introducing myself,” she said.

While Gee’s signs are ubiquitous throughout the electorate, Hook says that keeping up her own number of corflutes is vital to ensuring name recognition.

“It is important, having more signs shows people are engaged. It’s about name recognition and we have to do that,” she said. “Having a corflute on your paddock, fence, or gate is very effective.”

Her campaign launch referenced former independent Peter Andren who held the seat until his death in 2007, believing that the pandemic-hit past two years provides a great opportunity for a volunteer-run, independent campaign.

“I’m ultimately running, because I believe that we are in an untenable position as a country, where we have a faction in parliament that have proven to be unable to deliver on the things that matter most to people like a strong anti-corruption body and climate action,” she said.

“Also, people are appalled at this government’s misuse of public money to buy votes, it’s just pork-barrelling… they’re sick of the three-word slogans and marketing spin of the major parties,” she said.

One Nation candidate, Bathurst realtor Stacey Whittaker, believes the loss of civil liberties due to the coronavirus lockdowns means ordinary Australians can no longer trust the major parties, something that motivated her own entry into the political fray.

“I’m a sixth generation Bathurst girl, eight months ago I wouldn’t have seen myself entering politics, I’ve never even run for Council.

“Pauline Hanson (One Nation leader) has been the only one speaking against the vaccine mandates since halfway through last year, we’re not anti-vax, but we’re against forced vaccination programs,” Stacey said.

She said that the Labor, Greens, and “Teal” conservatives’ plans to move to net-zero emissions, as well as the rise of digital recognition technology, shows that none of the major parties are truly conservative.

“I was a National Party supporter, but I’ve given up… we need a change, and One Nation has the guts to say what the others are suppressing,” she added.

“They’ve all become really woke and pushing the green agenda… zero emissions will make our coal mines redundant, I’m for clean coal and jobs. I’m also against the cashless society and digital identity schemes.”

Former ABC journalist and academic, Kay Nankervis is representing the Greens who, despite success in the major cities, have always struggled to get out of single-digit figures in the rural-based electorate.

She believes that climate change and Australia’s asylum seeker policies are the central moral concerns of the national election.

“The two issues that have drawn me to the Greens, is that they are the only party to take immediate action on climate change, and a more humane approach to asylum seekers so as to fulfil our international agreements,” she said.

“Our inhumane approach to so-called ‘people smuggling’… our current government’s racist immigration policy, taps into and feeds xenophobia in the community,” she said.

She added that continued funding for the ABC was the only way to ensure that quality, independent journalism survived in the central west.

Late-selected Labor candidate, Sarah Elliott — a Registered Nurse and Midwife who grew up in the coal-mining heartland of Lithgow — believes that rising prices are a universal issue in the strongly National electorate that could play in Labor’s favour, as does demographic changes due to COVID-19.

“Calare is very diverse, Lithgow, Bathurst, Mudgee, Molong… but the one issue we are all facing, is the cost of living that is going up under this government.

“We’ve seen an influx with COVID tree-changers… this influx of new voters may swing it; I would like to see Labor given a chance due to our strong suite of policies.”

She said that the pandemic is unlikely to be the deciding factor in the local vote: “It’s certainly been something that has tested our country’s response, but it’s potentially not the overriding factor, which I believe will be the economy,” she said.

Fifth on the ballot paper is the current Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel, the National’s Andrew Gee, who said that his work as both a State and, now Federal member, is testament to his contribution on behalf of the electorate over a number of years.

“I’m running in this election on my record of working with our community to deliver the projects and services that our region needs. But there is much more to be done, and I want to continue delivering for the people of Calare.

He believes that the local economy is central to deciding how Calare votes on May 21

“I want to ensure our local economy keeps growing and that our local residents have the jobs they need, and that we continue to improve health services and infrastructure right across the electorate.

 “We also need to continue to support people with the cost-of-living pressures that are causing a lot of stress for many.”

Troubling events in the wider world should also go to informing locals’ voting intentions in the Federal poll, he added.

“With the invasion of Ukraine, and China making moves into the Solomon Islands, it’s an uncertain world, but I’m hoping that our community will again put their faith in me to see us through the next term of Parliament.

“I’m looking forward to a democracy sausage on election day!” he added.

The United Australia Party’s Adam Jannis, who works in the personal fitness industry at Wellington, recently held his launch in Robertson Park where Federal party leader, former Liberal, Craig Kelly, proposed a 20 per cent tax deduction for towns more than 200km from the coast.

“We’ve got a strong regional focus, we’ve got to bring back manufacturing jobs to Australia… we need a plan for decentralisation in this country and to encourage investment in this area,” he said.

Adam said that the only way to get Australia working at full capacity is to lift the vaccine mandates that saw tens of thousands of workers leaving the economy.

“We need the nurses and teachers not working now because they are unvaxxed, to get back into the economy… people have lost their jobs because of these mandates, and that was not right.”