Federal election: COVID cuts election campaign short for Nationals candidate for Durack Ian Blayney

The last week of the Federal election campaign has been hampered by COVID for Ian Blayney, who has been feeding sheep instead of shaking hands in the lead-up to polling. The former Geraldton MP has been helping up on a relative’s Kojonup farm since he was displaced by Labor’s Lara Dalton in the State election last March. He surprised many by returning to the campaign trail, this time on a Federal level as the Nationals’ candidate for Durack. Although he has not been able to visit as much of the sprawling electorate in person as he would like, Mr Blayney has spent the last few weeks travelling across the Mid West to meet its constituents. Mr Blayney said poor telecommunications remained the primary concern of Durack residents, with health and education also areas in need of improvement. Geraldton residents have been eager to learn which candidates would push to bring a jetty to the Mid West city if elected, with Mr Blayney saying he would support the grassroots proposal. “People love jetties,” he said. “You take kids out on them and throw a fishing line over, or you can have a walk in and out on a jetty.” Another issue which has attracted public attention during the campaign is the Federal Government’s 2019 pledge to invest $9 million in a radiation therapy unit for Geraldton. The unit would allow cancer patients to access treatment locally instead of travelling to Perth, but there remains a $10m shortfall to fund the project. WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson has said the Federal Government must step up to fill the funding gap, but Mr Blayney said the State should use its $5.7 billion surplus to invest in the project. “(The Federal Government) has to allocate money right across the nation,” Mr Blayney said. “The WA Government is the only State government in Australia that has a surplus at the moment, so I think they should be paying for something like that themselves. “They already have questions to answer to about how slow they have been on doing anything on the hospital.” Despite Labor’s comfortable win in Geraldton and much of Durack in the State election, Mr Blayney said this support is not likely to translate to votes on Saturday. “People vote on separate issues (in Federal elections). Some of the media has been saying (Premier Mark) McGowan doesn’t seem to have the pulling power they thought he would have in the Federal election,” he said. Mr Blayney is under no illusion about how difficult it would be for any candidate other than Durack incumbent Melissa Price to win the seat on election night. Sportsbet on Tuesday had the Liberal Party as the hot-priced favourite for Durack, paying $1.01 for Ms Price to win, compared to $14 for Mr Blayney and Labor’s Jeremiah Riley. While he will not give up hope until the results are in, Mr Blayney said his primary objective during the campaign has been to raise the profile of the Nationals. “Realistically we have got a strong local member. That makes it really hard, especially given the size of the electorate,” he said. But he said he would not be surprised if there was an erosion of the Liberal Party’s 13.5 per cent margin. Mr Blayney remained tight-lipped about what his plans are post-election if not successful, saying for now he would be content to keep tending his sheep.