Snake catcher drops out of Warrandyte byelection

A snake catcher who previously committed to running in the Warrandyte byelection has dropped out of the race of a dozen candidates who will contest the poll later this month.

Raymond Hoser, from Park Orchards, said last month he planned to run as an independent candidate on a platform of “getting the snakes out of parliament”. However, his name was missing from the Victorian Electoral Commission’s finalised list of candidates released on Friday.

Raymond Hoser will not end up contesting the seat of Warrandyte in the upcoming state byelection.Credit: Eddie Jim

Hoser – who vigorously protects his Snake Man trademark with legal threats and has sued Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener and Media Watch host Paul Barry for defamation – said he had decided to pull out of the race after seeing the rival candidates.

Hoser said after seeing which independents were running he had concluded it wasn’t worth the thousands of dollars it would cost to run the campaign.

“Now I’m a busy man, I do wildlife conservation and research and I’ve just published scientific papers,” he said.

“The reality is, for me to spend two weeks fighting a campaign that is almost certainly going to lose is lunatic.”

Labor is also without a candidate in the race.

Warrandyte byelection candidates in ballot paper order

• Jack Corcoran – Sustainable Australia Party – Stop Overdevelopment / Corruption
• Nicole Werner – Liberal Party
• Greg Cheesman – Freedom Party of Victoria
• Cary De Wit – Labour DLP
• Wai Man Raymond Chow – Independent
• Morgan Ranieri – Independent
• Colleen Bolger – Victorian Socialists
• Richard Griffith-Jones – Family First Victoria
• Philip Jenkins – Independent
• Maya Tesa – Independent
• Tomas Lightbody – Australian Greens
• Alan Max Menadue – Independent 

The Liberals have preselected former youth pastor and Liberal staffer Nicole Ta-Ei Werner to run for the seat in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. She aims to succeed Ryan Smith, who previously contested the state party leadership, but announced in May he was retiring in part due to the “growing negative tone of politics”.

Smith retained Warrandyte at the 2022 state election with a 3.9 per cent margin over Labor.

Government MPs had been urging Labor Party headquarters to back a candidate for the upcoming poll in once uber-safe Liberal territory. It is shaping as another test for Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s leadership amid party divisions over his handling of upper house MP Moira Deeming’s party room expulsion following her presence at an anti-trans rally attended by neo-Nazis, and continued poor polling.

However, Labor administrators were reluctant to bankroll a costly campaign they were not certain to win. The party announced in late July that it would not field a candidate, boosting the Liberals’ prospects and thus Pesutto’s hold on party leadership.

Greens candidate Tomas Lightbody appears to be the Liberals’ strongest challenger. The 25-year-old Manningham City councillor is aiming to become Victorian parliament’s youngest member.

Ten other minor party or independent candidates will contest the election on Saturday, August 26.

They include: 24-year-old Sustainable Australia Party candidate Jack Corcoran, libertarian independent Maya Tesa, socialist lawyer Colleen Bolger, Freedom Party contender Greg Cheesman and socially conservative Family First nominee Richard Griffith-Jones.

Early voting begins on Monday.

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