NEIL Reilly has already hit the campaign trail.
Just days after Member for Gilmore Joanna Gash announced plans to retire from Federal Parliament, Mr Reilly started visiting local ALP branches putting himself forward as a potential candidate.
He spoke to the Milton-Ulladulla branch last Thursday.
Mr Reilly has stood against Mrs Gash at the last two Federal elections and is currently president of the ALP’s Federal Electorate Council in Gilmore.
While an ALP candidate will still have to be pre-selected, Mr Reilly hopes the process will be completed sooner rather than later, enabling him to build momentum as the election nears.
His last campaign got off to a delayed start after former NRL star David Boyle was parachuted into the candidacy by the ALP National Executive.
Mr Boyle stood aside as the ALP candidate in June 2010, leaving Mr Reilly just a couple of months to swing into action.
Mr Reilly last week described Mrs Gash’s planned retirement as “good news” for the people of Gilmore.
He said the region had literally “dropped off the Federal radar” under Mrs Gash’s watch and had lost out on its fair share of funding as a result.
“I know there is a need for greater infrastructure in areas of education and transport and the chance to implement them has nearly passed,” he said last week.
“With some strong leadership and vision we’ll have a greater chance to get our fair share,” he said.
Mr Reilly said he had already developed a strategy to take Gilmore from “unappealing past to a prosperous future” based on clear and measurable plans.
He is planning to put forward a strong case to those voters who would normally take a conservative path – including small business people – by encouraging them to “carefully examine the past under Jo Gash and imagine the future as it could be with Neil Reilly”.
He said small business had been neglected in recent years and people needed to consider that things “might be better under Neil Reilly”.
He told the Times that he was a small business person himself and understood the difficulties faced by other small business people.
Mr Reilly said he had a “sneaking admiration” for the retiring MP and acknowledged that she was strong ‘electorally’.
At the same time, he said, Mrs Gash had failed to “take up the cudgel” at a Federal level.
He pointed to the fact that Main Rd 92 was still incomplete and that there had been no recognition for the Princes Highway at a Federal level.
While Mrs Gash had announced plans to “pass the baton on” he said he was unsure whether there was anyone with “sufficient mettle” in the Liberal Party’s ranks to accept it.
“I speak my mind,” Mr Reilly said last week. “People know that I am not shy in putting their case.
“People know that my first loyalty is to the people of Gilmore.”
He said he was also prepared to stand up against the party.
“If we don’t think it’s right we’ll stand up and say so,” he said.
Mr Reilly concedes he polled fairly poorly in the southern Shoalhaven at the last election but is hoping to turn that around.
He is planning to run a completely different campaign this time around, hosting public forums at which he will give ideas and receive feedback.
If local people have good ideas he said he would be happy to run with them.
“If someone has a plan with a bit of spark and imagination, I’ll run with it,” he told the Times.
Email a friend