Charlie Fenton launches One Nation bid in Wollondilly

The race for the hotly contested state seat of Wollondilly is heating up after former Bargo Hotel publican Charlie Fenton was announced as One Nation’s candidate.

Former Bargo Hotel publican Charlie Fenton will stand for One Nation in Wollondilly. Picture: Ian Svegovic

• Oran Park Public School at more than double capacity
• Labor promises to scrap ‘unfair housing targets’

The race for the hotly contested state seat of Wollondilly is heating up after former Bargo Hotel publican Charlie Fenton was announced as One Nation’s candidate.

Mr Fenton’s campaign for the seat was launched by One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham at the Royal Hotel in Bowral earlier today.

This is Mr Fenton’s second tilt at state politics after running for the National Party in 2003 when he was defeated by high-profile independent Rob Oakeshott in Port Macquarie.

With the state election likely to be a close-run affair, Mr Fenton believes Wollondilly could be a key seat in deciding the election’s outcome.

Mr Fenton was announced as One Nation’s candidate today.

Popular former MP Jai Rowell, who retired last year, held the seat for the Liberal Party with a mammoth 67.3 per cent of the two part preferred vote.

But Mr Rowell’s replacement, Liberal candidate Nat Smith, only moved to the area shortly before kicking off his campaign last year, already faces stiff competition from former Wollondilly Mayor Judy Hannan, running as an independent.

“The election could come down to the wire and Wollondilly could be the linchpin for the whole government,” Mr Fenton said.

“People are just sick of the major parties… I was a member of the National Party since 1986 and they used to stand up for people in rural areas.

IN OTHER NEWS

“Now they are just doing what the Liberal Party tells them to do.”

Mr Fenton cited a lack of consultation around the Baird Government’s now-retracted greyhound ban and lockout laws as examples of decisions which had hurt Wollondilly businesses.

He said Wollondilly also needed a new public high school and a government willing to invest in promoting the region’s tourism potential.

NSW One Nation candidate Mark Latham is a resident of Wollondilly.

“We have a public high school in the Wollondilly Shire which services about 22,000 people in the north of the electorate, we need another one,” he said.

“If you look at the Southern Highlands there are 70 vineyards, we need to work on promoting that tourism potential.”

Mr Fenton will take on Mrs Hannan, Mr Smith and Labor’s Jo Ann Davidson, Shooters and Fishers Party’s Jason Bolwell and Animal Justice Party’s Heather Edwards.

Mr Bolwell’s campaign was launched by Mr Latham last year before the former federal Labor leader joined One Nation.