Another challenger has thrown his hat into the ring for the NSW election coming up in March.
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David Landini is the newest candidate, and he'll be running as an independent for the seat of Murray.
He will be bringing some new radical ideas to the table, such as breaking the Riverina off into its own separate state.
Mr Landini says the NSW government has been neglecting the seat of Murray for too long, and that seceding from NSW is the "cure" to the political woes plaguing the region.
He claims the cries of farmers demanding an end to the Murray Darling Basin Plan and Water Act 2007 have gone unheard by state politicians, most of whom serve city electorates.
"There's a concentration of political power in a very small part of the state, and it's definitely not our part of the state," Mr Landini said.
He thinks that the NSW government should drop the pretense and change their acronym to "Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong", given that 70 out of 93 electorates lie within those cities.
The concentration of electorates is something that has steadily gotten more extreme over the years as populations leave the countryside and cluster around urban areas.
Whenever the electoral borders are redrawn there's usually one or two regional and rural seats that get swallowed up by the big cities due to the population shift.
It's a trend that can't go on, according to Mr Landini.
"We can still prosper, but not as a part of NSW," he said.
"If we form a Riverina state it will put us from the bottom of the rung to the top; it will give us infinitely more bargaining power and with that power this water issue can be solved."
It's a radical idea, and even though some might say it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell, Mr Landini will be fighting tooth and nail for it in the upcoming election.
If elected as Member for Murray, he will be putting the idea of a Riverina State to a referendum.
He is confident that if he did so, he would have the will of the people behind him.
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Kenji Sato
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
