CREATING a new state in western NSW would solve dwindling representation in parliament and give people a greater say in the management of its natural resources, an independent candidate for Murray says.
David Landini is advocating for a separate state called the Riverina, made up of the eight electorates west of the Great Dividing Range and including the Murray River and Hume, Burrinjuck and Blowering dams.
A self-employed wool broker from Wakool, Mr Landini was one of 10 candidates who contested the 2019 election won by Helen Dalton. He finished sixth with 976 first-preference votes.
Mr Landini was a former National Party member and Deniliquin branch chairman, but quit the party in disgust after realising important decisions about irrigation and the timber industry were being made purely for political gain and to secure Greens preferences.
“The Greens are officially opposed to irrigation farming, the timber industry and a lot of other things,” he said.
“The problem we’ve got is our livelihoods depend a lot on these things … the Greens are not a minor party – their vote is about four times bigger than the National Party.
“The conclusion I came to is these industries cannot continue to exist while we’re attached to that urban super-majority with its very large Green voting fraction.”
Across the state, 435,401 voters gave their first preference to the Greens at the 2019 election.
Mr Landini contrasted this to the 398,000 voters in all eight electorates west of the Great Dividing Range.
He said if rural populations continued to decline as coastal cities grew, within decades boundary changes would leave those people with only one MP.
Mr Landini said he was using his 2023 election campaign to gather support for the Riverina state proposal, with the aim of setting up a political party and lobbying for a referendum of voters living in the area.
The fledgling party has 80 of the 750 members needed to register it in NSW and has attracted interest from Victoria where the situation is similar.
At last year’s state election, 420,201 people voted for the Greens, compared to 413,648 voters in the 10 most rural electorates.
“The case is compelling,” he said.
“When enough people are informed about the reasons for it, they will agree we have to separate politically. If we want to keep our jobs, maintain our livelihoods and our prosperity, we have to separate from that super Green-orientated majority in the urban areas.”
At the 2019 state election, the Greens received more first-preference votes in Murray than Mr Landini.
Mrs Dalton will contest the March 25 election as an independent after last year severing ties with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, and the Nationals have pre-selected Edward River Mayor Peta Betts.
Labor, the Greens and several minor parties were also expected to field candidates. Nominations close on March 8 and the ballot draw will be held on March 9.
