Nambucca Shire councillor Susan Jenvey has been pre-selected to lead the Labor charge against the sitting Nationals member, Melinda Pavey in next year’s NSW elections.

“I’m thrilled at this opportunity to be a strong voice for Labor values here in Oxley,” Ms Jenvey said.

“I’ve been a macadamia farmer here for the last 20 years, I fell in love here, I put my child through the public school system here, I’ve run businesses here and been an active member of many community organisations.

“I know this area, I talk to lots of people and feel all these experiences have informed me to be a confident voice for the community.”

She said the greatest threats to the local community were global warming and the growing wealth gap.

“In the past Labor was the only government that worked to lift people out of disadvantage and it was the only one taking global warming seriously. It’s policies around the environment and climate change are what I call ‘climate smart’.

“I believe in Labor values and I am absolutely up for the challenge of being the voice of Oxley in Macquarie St.

“After all these years of being a blue ribbon  Nationals seat, I want to turn Oxley red.”

Ms Jenvey grew up in Queensland, the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and member of the Queensland National Party.

She said it was her father’s authoritarian, conservative mode of thinking that forced her to look at alternatives. She was drawn to the the more nurturing progressive politics of the ALP.

Some of the issues she intends to champion include:

* Fairer funding for public schools.

* Recurrent health funding

* Tackling electricity prices as a way to support small business

* Co-ordinated schemes to train/re-train youth and older workers to make inroads into the abysmal unemployment figures.

* Taking care of rural lands.