NSW Labor’s Terry Campese withdraws as candidate for seat of Monaro
Terry Campese has withdrawn as a NSW Labor candidate, declaring he does not want his past to be dragged through the media.
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Terry Campese has withdrawn as the Labor candidate for Monaro, declaring that he does not want his past to be dragged through the media.
It comes after a series of revelations from The Daily Telegraph, including that the former NRL star visited his close friend and convicted drug dealer Adam Hunter in jail to raise funds for his youth charity.
Mr Campese denied using charity resources to meet with his mate.
In a statement released on Friday morning, Mr Campese said that he was pulling out of the election race.
“Today I’m announcing that I will step down as Labor’s candidate. Not because my heart isn’t in it but because I love this community too much to drag it through the media - whether they are truthful or not,” he said.
The withdrawal leaves Labor Leader Chris Minns without a candidate in a crucial seat that Labor must take from the Nationals to win government in March.
“I had never considered being a politician until I was approached late last year and informed of the difference a good Member of Parliament can make for the community,” Mr Campese said.
He thanked Labor volunteers for their “time and support”.
“In the past couple of months I have had great conversations with highly passionate people about a range of topics across the Monaro. I’m grateful that even in this short time I have been able to progress some of these conversations to pre election commitments,” he said.
“Unfortunately I have also come to realise that, for some, politics is not about representing people but about their own power with a ‘win at all costs’ mentality,” he said.
“Perhaps in the future things will change and we will see more community members put their hand up to be involved in politics.”
The Daily Telegraph earlier revealed Mr Campese was the subject of a complaint to the Labor head office after he was filmed at a raunchy sex-themed party dressed as a scantily clad police officer.
Mr Campese had also caused fury within the party’s local Monaro branch after members accused Labor of announcing him as the candidate before a rank and file preselection was even started.
LABOR CANDIDATE VISITED DRUG DEALER MATE INSIDE PRISON
A star Labor candidate visited his convicted drug dealer friend inside prison to raise funds for his youth charity.
Former Canberra Raiders captain Terry Campese met with his school friend Adam Hunter, who was convicted in 2021 for attempting to import 300kg of cocaine hidden in a excavator, last year at the Macquarie Correctional Centre in Wellington.
The visit was in December last year, the same month Mr Campese was announced as the candidate for Monaro.
In a video taken at the correctional centre, a man believed to be Mr Hunter endorses the Terry Campese Foundation.
The man, whose face is blurred, is pictured exercising with Mr Campese and other inmates for the “crim fit” program.
“I have been friends with Mr Hunter since school and remain so today. If everyone who made a mistake was abandoned, it would be a very sad and lonely world,” Mr Campese told the Telegraph.
“Mr Hunter did participate in Crimfit 2022. The inmates as a collective choose a different charity each year, as part of their journey to rehabilitation.
“The Terry Campese Foundation applied to the Macquarie Correctional Centre to conduct a fundraising activity and the centre chose the Terry Campese Foundation as its 2022 charity partner.”
Under pressure after revelations he was filmed at a raunchy sex themed party and complaints from local Labor members that he was allowed to skip preselection, Mr Campese confirmed that he met with Mr Hunter when he participated in the program but said he drove to the fundraiser using his own car and not charity resources.
“It was Mr Hunter’s choice to participate in Crimfit 2022. I had no influence on the participants,” he said.
“I used my own car to drive to the fundraiser.”
At his candidate launch, Labor leader Chris Minns said it was a Facebook post highlighting Mr Campese’s visit to the prison that prompted him to consider him as a candidate.
“I thought what an amazing thing for a former footballer to be doing.”
“From that point onward I thought Terry cares about this community, I wonder if he would be a candidate.”
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