State Labor leader identifies key election battleground, announces candidates

Two new candidates have been announced as NSW Labor attempts to unseat long-held Liberal electorates within a key election battleground.

The NSW Labor leader has declared Western Sydney as a “key battleground” in the upcoming NSW state election, with Chris Minns announcing two candidates for the major seats of Ryde and Parramatta.

During a Wednesday morning press conference, Mr Minns claimed locals were feeling left behind by Dominic Perrottet’s Liberal government due to a lack of infrastructure.

“The communities are coming, the buildings are being put in, the units are being built, but the infrastructure, the schools, and the hospitals are not keeping pace,” he said.

“I think many taxpayers will be saying: ‘Why do we keep getting this wrong?’”

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns said Western Sydney locals were feeling left behind by Dominic Perrottet’s Liberal government. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Mr Minns used the example of the northwest suburb of Melrose Park, which he said was one of the fastest growing suburbs in Sydney and where his party has committed to building a new high school if there is a change of government at the upcoming state election on March 25 this year.

Estimated to cost $54 million, he said the community “desperately” needs the addition.

Criticising the Liberal government, Mr Minns said: “We know how many buildings are gonna go up, we can almost predict to the person how many children will need to go into a local public school, but we never build the infrastructure the community needs.”

The state opposition leader announced two Labor candidates for the highly contested seats of Ryde and Parramatta, both of which are currently held by Liberal MPs.

Teacher Lyndal Howison will contest the Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello for the seat of Ryde, with Parramatta Lord Mayor Donna Davis in the fight to for the seat of Parramatta.

The electorate-to-watch will be up for grabs after popular Liberal MP Geoff Lee announced his retirement from politics after holding the role for 12 years.

Lord Mayor of Parramatta Donna Davis will contest the seat of Parramatta. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Labor candidate Lyndal Howison, with former federal opposition leader Bill Shorten.

Mr Minns said while Labor was running “fantastic female candidates” for state seats, he said it should be the “natural thing to do for a modern political party”.

“Any political party that hopes to represent the state of NSW should look like the state of NSW,” he added.