LABOR is set to announce a new candidate for Polwarth after its previous contender unleashed on the party, claiming it wasn’t interested in the south-west electorate.
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Former firefighter Joe Brown claimed the ALP gave him little support for his campaign after being endorsed by the party in April, lashing out at Labor administrators.
Labor party state secretary Noah Carroll said the search for a new Polwarth candidate was well advanced following Mr Brown’s decision to step down three months ago.
“The party has a candidate for Polwarth that we will be considering tomorrow, and who lives in the seat of Polwarth,” Mr Carroll said on Wednesday.
Mr Brown revealed via social media this week that he had torn up his ALP membership despite being an endorsed candidate only a few months ago.
He continued to criticise the Labor party yesterday and claimed he was ignored by the office of federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten after calling for support.
“I attempted to talk to and seek advice from Bill Shorten MP’s office about my issues before I spoke to the media,” Mr Brown wrote on Twitter. “(I received) no response.”
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews refused to be drawn on Mr Brown’s comments during a press conference this week.
Mr Andrews said the ALP would offer a strong replacement in the south-west constituency held by Transport Minister Terry Mulder.
“We expect to run good, strong, solid candidates in every seat to give every single Victorian a choice, whether it’s a seat that history would say we might win or not,” the Opposition Leader said.
Mr Mulder and Greens candidate Simon Northeast are the only two candidates standing for the electorate so far, which is held by the Coalition with a solid majority.