The Liberal Party's freshest candidate Warren Mundine has visited North Nowra with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to share his vision for Gilmore on Wednesday.
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Mr Mundine, who resides in Roseville on Sydney’s North Shore, will move to a rental property in Nowra as soon as possible.
He has dubbed the move to Gilmore a “homecoming” of sorts.
“I’ve always looked at this seat because for me, it’s coming home,” Mr Mundine said.
“My grandparents were born here, my great grandparents were born here, my great-great grandparents were born here, in Moruya, Kiama, here on the Shoalhaven River.
“I have an incredible personal relationship with land. I wanted to represent a rural seat.”
There were no signs of bad blood between local Liberals and the parachuted candidate at the golf club in North Nowra.
Gilmore Federal Electoral Council president Adam Straney greeted the Mr Morrison and Mr Mundine in a private room.
Mr Mundine later pledged to extend olive branches to Gilmore party members vexed by the circumstances of his appointment.
“As of today I started talking to the Federal Electoral Council, we are going to work with all those people here, work with people who are talking about leaving [the Liberal Party] and have left,” Mr Mundine said.
"We’re going to bring them back into the fold.
“We need people out on the ground [campaigning].
“For me it’s about getting out there talking to those people.
“My mother always said to me, ‘If you have an issue, a problem with people, always sit down with a cup of tea and have a conversation with people,’ and that’s what I’ll be doing.
“I’ll be having a lot of cups of tea over the next couple of weeks to get the team together that we need to win this seat.”
Mr Mundine said he would continue “the fight” started by Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis and former Gilmore MP Joanna Gash.
Firstly, he wants to tackle unemployment in Gilmore.
“This government has brought it down to 8 per cent,” Mr Mundine said.
“I want to bring unemployment figures down further. The best thing for welfare is a job, you need to move people from welfare to jobs.
“Unfortunately we have a lot of youth and individuals who have not been able to access that [employment].”
He also talked about the importance of improving roads in the area to facilitate tourism growth.