Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Helen Dalton has vehemently denied claims she has made a deal with Labor, following targeted media campaigns by The Nationals and One Nation.
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One Nation's campaign involved hundreds of unsolicited texts and robocalls to Griffith residents in the lead up to the NSW election on March 23, reading: "Shooters' candidate Helen Dalton has said she will support a Labor Government in a hung NSW Parliament. A vote for Dalton is a vote for Labor."
Meanwhile The Nationals have run an advertisement which repeats the claim that a vote for the Helen Dalton is a vote for Labor.
Mrs Dalton has hit back at the accusations, saying she has not made any deals with any party, let alone Labor.
"I've spent my whole life fighting against Labor water policies. I would never do a deal with Labor," Mrs Dalton said.
"If Labor come to me after the election for support to form a Coalition government, I will refuse."
Mrs Dalton has not preferenced anybody for the upcoming election, despite many of her Shooters colleagues doing preference deals with Labor.
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In the face of Helen Dalton's denials, Nationals Upper House member Wes Fang doubled down on his comments.
He said the Shooters had a state-wide deal with Labor, and that even if Mrs Dalton personally opposed the idea she was still benefiting from her party's deal and Labor's preference votes.
"You can't separate the party from the candidate," Mr Fang said.
"Helen can make excuses for her party, but her party has done a deal with Labor and if she truly wanted to be independent she would run as an independent."
Mr Fang went even further, claiming a vote for either the Shooters or Labor could end up with more water buybacks in Griffith and more water being sent to South Australia.
"The Shooters and Labor are operating as one party, and to say there's no preference deal is absolute rubbish," Mr Fang said.
Country Labor's Murray candidate Alan Purtill has preferenced Helen Dalton as the number "2" on his how-to-vote cards, but he said he doesn't expect any reciprocity and denies making any "deal" with her.
Mrs Dalton has not preferenced anybody on her how-to-vote cards, and said she had no intention to do so.
She said if she were to be voted in as the next Member for Murray, she would work with the crossbench and not with Labor or the Nationals.
Mrs Dalton claims that by doing so she would hold the balance of power in the parliament and be better positioned to bargain with the government.
"I'll have the power to secure funding for hospitals, schools, roads and water infrastructure in our region," Mrs Dalton said.
"I want to base every vote in parliament on what the people of Murray want."
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