COMMUNITY activist Leslie Williams will be endorsed as The Nationals’ candidate for the state seat of Port Macquarie.
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The Lake Cathie woman will make her third attempt to be elected as the member for the seat, which is held by independent Peter Besseling.
Mrs Williams, a nurse, was the only nomination to contest the state election, due next year, for The Nationals.
It is expected Mrs Williams’ candidacy will be ratified un-opposed at a meeting of The Nationals Port Macquarie Electorate Council on March 6.
NSW Nationals state director Ben Franklin, said Mrs Williams’ nomination was an emphatic endorsement from the Port Macquarie branch.
“We think Leslie will be an outstanding candidate,” Mr Franklin said.
Mr Franklin said the Port Macquarie branch had enthusiastically embraced Mrs Williams’ candidacy.
The state director said Mrs Williams has been working towards the goal of winning the seat for the party since the day after she was defeated by Mr Besseling in the 2008 bi-election.
Mrs Williams secured a swing of almost 24 per cent for the party at the October 2008 bi-election, brought on by the move to federal politics of the then member, Rob Oakeshott.
Mr Besseling took the seat with 54.5 per cent of the final vote.
The mother-of-two moved to the Mid-North Coast 14 years ago and has lived at Lake Cathie ever since, with husband Don.
The couple ran the Lake Cathie Post Office for 10 years and now operates a mail delivery service.
Mrs Williams spent nine years as a high school teacher in her home state of South Australia and was the chief executive of the Sudden Infant Death Association in the Northern Territory for 18 months.
It is this “real life experience” that the former Kangaroo Island resident said gave her a real empathy with the electorate.
The 49-year-old said she would fight for the people in the region.
“I have been working very hard with the shadow ministry to make them fully aware what the people of the Port Macquarie electorate are concerned about,” Mrs Williams said.
The third-time candidate said the only way the people of NSW would “get rid of the Labor government is by electing coalition candidates”.
And the people of Port Macquarie have a role to play, Mrs Williams said.
“To get the very best for the community, the Port Macquarie electorate needs someone who will have a voice as part of the government.”
