Last modified on Fri 14 May 2021 16.02 EDT
Standing on a hill overlooking the sprawling maze of paddocks heâs worked all his 71 years, Ian Moore rattles off the names of Nationals MPs heâs supported in the Upper Hunter during his 50 years as a member of the party.
Col Fisher, the local MP for 18 years from 1970, lived just over the hill from Mooreâs farm in Jerrys Plains, a tiny village west of Singleton. Fisher was âan honourableâ man, he remembers. So too George Souris, who held the seat from 1988 until his retirement in 2015. âA gentleman,â Moore says.
More recently though? Of Michael Johnsen â who resigned in March in the wake of accusations he raped a sex worker in the Blue Mountains in 2019 â accusations he strenuously denies â the less said the better. And Dave Layzell, the candidate preselected to replace Johnsen at next Saturdayâs byelection? Well, heâs just not sure.