Former Labor Member for Monaro Steve Whan has put his hand up to run for the seat again in the upcoming NSW election.
Monaro is a seat in the Snowy Mountains that has had its share of ups and downs.
Controversial former Nationals leader John Barilaro held the seat from 2011 to 2021.
And earlier this month, former NRL great Terry Campese withdrew his Labor candidacy for the seat, after footage from a private sex-themed party went viral and questions were raised over his friendship with a convicted drug dealer.
In take two for Labor's bid for Monaro, pre-selection opens today and Mr Whan has been confirmed as a candidate in this process.
"It's been a tough decision because obviously I have been here before," Mr Whan said.
"But I had a really good chat with [NSW Labor Leader] Chris Minns … and I'm really excited about the vision he's presenting for the future of NSW.
"I've still got plenty of fire in the belly and plenty of energy."
NSW Labor is expected to make a final decision on their candidate for the seat on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference in Callala Bay on the south coast today, Mr Minns said his party still had time to find candidates for any remaining seats in the state.
"We have opened pre-selections for the remaining seats that we don't have a candidate for," he said.
"Bear in mind, there's 93 seats in the NSW lower house, it's been an iterative process where we've opened pre-selections going back nine months.
"We're in the final stages of our last few seats and I think there's enough time to have candidates in the field."
But Mr Whan is aware that time is running out for Labor to campaign, with the NSW election less than a month away.
"It's a huge job and there's no guarantees in this," he said.
"Monaro is always very close and it's not going to be easy, but I think I can offer a really experienced alternative for people in Monaro.
"I think I can make it a very competitive electorate."
A brief history of Monaro
The Monaro electorate borders the east of the ACT and stems south to the Victorian border, including the NSW Snowy Mountains and the towns of Bombala, Jindabyne and Cooma, extending into the Queanbeyan-Palerang shire.
Mr Whan was the sitting Labor member for Monaro for eight years, before Mr Barilaro won the seat in 2011.
Mr Barilaro resigned a decade later, triggering a by-election that saw Nationals candidate Nichole Overall win the seat.
Monaro is currently held by the Nationals at a margin of 11 per cent.
After losing the seat, Mr Whan became a member of the Legislative Council until 2015.
He is a former chief executive of the National Irrigators Council and currently works as an independent non-executive director of Murrumbidgee Irrigation.
'Back into the fray'
Mr Whan, who is based in Queanbeyan, said he wanted to focus on staffing at schools and hospitals — particularly in Cooma — if selected as Labor's candidate for Monaro.
He said he was not aware of anyone else running for Labor pre-selection, but he would not know for sure until Monday.
"Nobody else has indicated to me that they're going to run," he said.
"It was a tough decision to go from what's been a pretty nice lifestyle and back into the fray.
"But I've had a huge amount of encouragement from party members around the Monaro electorate."
