Preselection challenge kicks off early federal election race for Tony Pasin's safe Liberal seat

ONLINE NEWS
ABC RIVERLAND
TUESDAY, 04 APRIL 2023

SUBJECTS: Preselection Challenge

A Liberal preselection battle is ramping up in the safe South Australian federal seat of Barker as nurse Katherine McBride challenges long-standing representative Tony Pasin.

The conservative Liberal MP has been representing the south-east SA seat in parliament for nearly 10 years.

Mr Pasin appeared on ABC South East SA’s Breakfast program on the morning Ms McBride's confirmation was reported and, when asked, said he had nominated for preselection but would not comment further.

"It's a long-standing Liberal Party convention for members to refrain from making public comment regarding preselections," he said.

"They're internal party matters and I, for one, intend to respect that convention."

Ms McBride, whose husband is conservative regional SA Liberal MP Nick McBride, declined to comment.

A chance for more female MPs: Labor senator Karen Grogan said the preselection race gave the Liberal Party an opportunity to balance its female representation.

"More than 50 per cent of the population are women and yet the Liberal Party is woefully short of that," she said.

"In the Labor Party we're very proud we instigated quotas to increase the number of women preselected in our party … to make sure there were opportunities for women at all levels of the party.

"This is an opportunity for the Liberal Party to have a long hard look at Katherine McBride and her skills and connections to community and think about whether it's time to start prioritising women for the community."