Zoe Lamont and Jenny Rolfe will serve as the two preselection candidates for Together for Riverina ahead of next year’s federal election. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Local political group Together for Riverina has announced it will move forward with two preselection candidates ahead of the upcoming federal election.
Wagga Wagga locals Zoe Lamont and Jenny Rolfe will both pitch their cases for why they should lead the ticket before a public online forum on Wednesday night (11 December). Interested members of the public will be able to attend the forum via Zoom and learn more about the two women and their vision for the Riverina.
While neither woman has run for federal government before, Together for Riverina said it has carefully chosen candidates who the party best believes represents the electorate.
Ms Lamont has served the Riverina as a small business owner of a regional food manufacturer. She stated the major issues that needed addressing over the Riverina electorate included a change of approach to producing skilled labor workers, more work in attracting GPs and teachers to the region and fixing mobile black spots in rural communities.
“Everyone needs proper medical professionals and everyone needs supportive education,” Ms Lamont said.
“Everyone needs good internet and mobile coverage, whether it’s for farm and road safety or farm business productivity and everyone, whether you’re a business in town or an education provider or health service, needs the skilled labour to keep those businesses and services running.
“I think we’re in a really pivotal time right now with the changes in electoral boundaries,” she said.
“We have lost, like Parkes and West Wylong but welcome the Yass Valley and the Upper Lachlan and the Snowy Valleys.
“This has changed the polling data completely. Polling suggested there is a 98 per cent chance of a minority government; because of this we have an opportunity and a real need right now to vote in an independent so we can have the local issues advocated for and raised, and that can be done with a local voice taken to parliament.”
Jenny Rolfe has spent a large majority of her life living in Wagga, being born and raised in the Riverina before starting a family elsewhere and moving back to the region.
Ms Rolfe said she believed people were growing tired of party politics and that now was the time to vote for an independent member to ensure the needs of the Riverina were addressed.
“People of our community are looking for somebody that will genuinely listen and engage and represent the things that are really important to them at a national level,” she said.
“The Riverina is such a diverse area, and what is significant in each of the region’s different communities differs somewhat. The experience of a farmer in Temora is going to be very different to a business owner in Tumut.
“What we do have in common, I think, is the desire to really future-proof our community, to acknowledge the issues that we face now, and to take action now in a way that is in our own best interests, not that represents a political party agenda or somebody’s personal perspective.”
Ms Lamont and Ms Rolfe will be answering questions during an online forum on Wednesday night between 7:30 and 9:30 pm. Tickets are available here.
With feedback from the public, Together for Riverina will choose a single candidate to move forward with into the 2025 election campaign.
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