Coulton to recontest next federal election
15-February-2010
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton will recontest the seat of Parkes for the Nationals at the next federal election after being preselected unopposed on the weekend.
Mr Coulton was unanimously endorsed as the Nationals’ candidate at the Parkes Electorate Council’s Annual General Meeting in Warren on Saturday.
He said he was looking forward to contesting the significantly altered seat of Parkes when the election is called later this year.
"It has been a huge honour to represent the seat of Parkes since I was elected to Federal Parliament in 2007 and I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to continue as the local member," he said.
"After almost three years of the Rudd Government the people of the Parkes electorate are suffering from its neglect of regional Australia and long list of broken promises in key areas such as health, education and communications.
"Following the redistribution of the seat of Parkes by the AEC last year the electorate’s boundaries have expanded significantly and there will be a lot of work needed to be done to cover the 250,000 square kilometres that make up the new electorate once the election is called.
"However I am very much looking forward to the challenge and under the Coalition leadership team of Tony Abbott and Warren Truss we have a very real chance of returning to government and giving the people of regional Australia the representation they deserve."