The Liberal Party will run an endorsed ticket for the first time in the history of either Queanbeyan or Palerang councils in the upcoming election.
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This election is the first for the now merged Queanbeyan-Palerang region.
The ticket includes local members of the Liberal Party and will be led by former Palerang councillor Mark Schweikert.
Mr Schweikert said the values that the Liberals stand for were applicable to the Queanbeyan-Palerang region.
“Freedom, the family, a fair go for all, less governance and support for small business is something this growing and diverse electorate can identify with,” he said.
“Running a Liberal ticket is the right thing to do.”
Both the Labor and Greens parties ran tickets in the 2012 Queanbeyan and Palerang elections and Mr Schweikert said people had been left wondering where the Liberal Party was.
He said to be fair to voters and to give conservatives in the region a choice the Liberals decided to run a ticket.
The six members of the ticket say they will be releasing a nine point policy plan before the election to clearly state their goals should a member be elected.
Mr Schweikert said despite Liberals being in power at both state and federal level any elected member of the ticket would work for the community rather than play party politics.
However he pointed to the council merger as an example of Liberal party governance that had brought positive outcomes to the region.
“The recent amalgamation of Queanbeyan-Palerang has been a real success story for our community with the way the two councils have come together as one,” he said.
The merger has been heavily criticised by not only Labor and the Greens but also many independents. The majority of former councillors in both electorates did not support the state government’s move.
The Liberal Party ticket consists of Mark Schweikert (Bungendore), Phillip Middleton (Jerrabomberra), Jenny Carpenter (Queanbeyan), Robert Boz (Googong), Mathew Graham (Queanbeyan) and Tharren Kingston-Lee (Karabar).
With Andrew Brown