Buchanan resident and Hunter media identity Meryl Swanson wants to be the next Labor candidate to contest the seat of Paterson.
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Ms Swanson has confirmed she will stand for pre-selection in the new-look electorate of Paterson, which will include Maitland, Kurri Kurri and part of Cessnock.
It means there will likely be a three-way battle for the Labor candidacy, between Ms Swanson,
Salt Ash man Robert Roseworne and Hawks Nest academic Dr Sam Wills.
The pre-selected candidate will join Greens hopeful John Brown and incumbent Liberal Paterson MP Bob Baldwin in the contest for the seat.
The news came after incumbent Labor Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon said on Tuesday he would stand for pre-selection in the seat of Hunter.
Ms Swanson, born and raised in Kurri Kurri, said she had considered a tilt at politics for a long time and had always had Labor values at heart.
She said the redistributed federal electorate boundaries convinced her to take the leap and nominate for pre-selection.
“I’ve always known that if you want to make a contribution, politics is a good place to do it,” she said.
“I just want to make this place a better place to live and work.”
Ms Swanson, who worked for Mr Fitzgibbon in Canberra in the late 1990s, named the flood issue at Testers Hollow as one of the key problems that faced the electorate.
Outside the political and media spheres, she has been business manager at Hunter Regional Organisation of Councils and executive director of Hunter Tourism.
Ms Swanson said she had tendered her resignation with Newcastle radio station 2NURFM because she thought it would be inappropriate to hold a position of influence in the media while she pursued pre-selection.
“This is going to be an enormous challenge, I don’t underestimate that for a moment,” she said.
“I will do my best to convince people that I can stand up and do this job.”
Labor pre-selection will take place in the next week.
Mr Roseworne said he had a strong profile in Port Stephens, where votes would be needed at election time.
“Firstly, we need a Labor candidate that can win and I believe I can,” he said.
“The Labor vote is stronger in the western part of the electorate, which we can’t ignore, but we’ll need to win votes in Port Stephens to win the election.”
Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon said the Paterson pre-selection was a matter for the rank and file members of the Labor Party. But he said Ms Swanson “would be an outstanding candidate who, if pre-selected, will give Bob Baldwin a run for his money”.
Mr Baldwin said his focus would be to engage with the new parts of his electorate.
He said he believed Mr Fitzgibbon did not nominate for Paterson because “he wasn’t up to the fight in a marginal seat campaign”.
Federal Hunter Valley seats will change significantly at the next election.
The next election is due to take place this year, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is yet to confirm when voters will head to the polls.
