Most good judges expect a pre-Easter announcement to confirm May 21 as the election date.
Last night’s candidate forum was live-streamed on the Riverine Herald Facebook page and is available for those people who were unable to attend or unaware of the opportunity to view the live feed.
C4EM prepared a list of community pillars around which questions would be built, then presented to the candidates.
With the retirement of Damian Drum, the sitting Member for Nicholls, made public several weeks ago there has been significant movement on the campaigning front for the three candidates seen as the major combatants for Nicholls.
Steve Brooks, a Cobram-based former secondary school teacher and orchard owner, has been campaigning hard after independent Rob Priestly jumped out of the blocks well before his competition had even printed their campaign material.
Nationals candidate Sam Birrell has aligned his campaigning closely with the popular Mr Drum, and probably deserves favouritism considering the short history of the Nicholls electorate.
Prior to the 2019 election the seat was notionally held by the National Party on a margin of 22.3 per cent, making it a safe seat for the party.
Drum polled 51 per cent of the primary vote at the election, ahead of the Labour candidate Bill Lodwick’s 18 per cent and 11 per cent for the One Nation candidate, Ms Tyrrell.
Eight candidates contested the 2019 election, including three independents.
There has been no news from the Labour party this time around, with the latest candidate announcement coming from the Citizens Party.
Jeff Davy, 64, from Katunga, will contest his fourth election after representing the Citizens Party at the 2007, 2010 and 2013 polls.
Questions for candidates at last night’s forum were drawn from the community on a specific range of subjects relating to the Campaspe community and candidates were required to keep their answers to one minute.
The five pillars on which the questions were developed were: Echuca-Moama, one community; support and plan for sustainable population growth; develop new and unique offerings; strengthen food and fibre-related industries, and workforce and leadership development.
