Local lawyer and councillor Raissa Butkowski has been selected as the Liberal Party candidate for the upcoming Farrer byelection.
The byelection comes after former Liberal leader Sussan Ley, announced her retirement from politics after losing the leadership in February.
Butkowski, an Albury City councillor, was preselected by the NSW Liberals on Sunday to contest the seat. She was selected over Lachlan McIntyre, a former staffer for Ley.
Butkowski also works for the Hume Riverina Community Legal Service and is a board member of the Murray-Darling Association.
She has an undergraduate honours degree in biomedical science from La Trobe University, as well as a law degree from Deakin University.
“After twenty-five years of dedicated service to the community and in parliament, Sussan Ley leaves big shoes to fill,” Butkowski said on Sunday.
“I’m humbled to be preselected, but know there’s a lot of hard work ahead.
“Families are struggling with the cost of living, small businesses face rising costs, farmers face uncertainty and our local health system needs fixing.”
Butkowski is now among a raft of confirmed candidates for the byelection, due to be held on May 9.
She will go up against Nationals candidate Brad Robertson, One Nation’s David Farley and independent Michelle Milthorpe. Richard Hendrie will also run for the Greens.
Labor is not expected to field a candidate for the byelection.
A test of Angus Taylor’s leadership
The byelection is seen as the first test for Angus Taylor’s leadership of the Liberal Party. He rose to the leadership just weeks ago after ousting Ley from the top job.
Ley was the first woman to lead the Liberal Party. She announced her resignation from parliament in late February.
It comes as recent polling showed One Nation leading the primary vote in Farrer.
The poll of 1000 voters in Farrer, conducted for The Australia Institute, had One Nation on top at 28.7 per cent, independent Michelle Milthorpe at 23.3 per cent, the Liberal Party at 19.1 per cent, the Nationals at 5.2 per cent and the Greens at 3.9 per cent.
Of the more than eight per cent of undecided voters, 28.5 per cent said they’d lean towards Milthorpe and 26.1 per cent leaned towards One Nation. The poll was conducted on March 5, before Butkowski was announced as the Liberal candidate.
One Nation’s popularity has been surging not just in Farrer, but nationally.
The right-wing populist party, led by Pauline Hanson, will be looking to turn this recent surge in voter support into a seat in the House of Representatives. If Liberal and Nationals preferences flow to One Nation on May 9, there’s every possibility it will happen.