The controversial site of the new Bungendore high school is one of the hot button issues of the coming Monaro byelection in neighbouring NSW, with the two leading candidates at odds over how the $50 million project should proceed.
The politics stacked up behind the proposal was on view on Monday night at a "meet the candidates" forum in rural Wamboin, on the ACT border, with the Nationals candidate Nichole Overall standing alone on pushing ahead with the contentious centre-town Bungendore Park location for the much-needed school.
How this plays out for her in the coming days leading up to Saturday's poll is uncertain, given that it is an issue which has deeply divided the fast-growing country town just outside Canberra.
The so-called Bungendore Park proposal was championed by fellow National and former NSW deputy leader John Barilaro, who resigned from the seat in October last year after a tumultuous period of internal ructions within the ruling NSW Liberal-National Coalition.
Mr Barilaro had been a popular local member in the 2019 election, achieving a 9.1 per cent margin. He rose to deputy leader and Minister for Regional NSW but his standing waned when he opposed a koala habitat policy, then became embroiled in a series of stoushes which publicly aired the internal turmoil within the Coalition parties.
He intended to stand for federal politics in Eden-Monaro but failed to receive the support from then-federal leader Michael McCormack.
Mr Barilaro's decision to quit was a massive blow to the Nationals, which had held Monaro since 2011.
Whether Ms Overall, a former journalist with the Tumut-Adelong Times, crime blogger and wife of former high profile Queanbeyan-Palerang mayor Tim Overall, can muster the same personal vote as Mr Barilaro will be one of the key elements of the coming byelection.
The Bungendore high school proposal dominated discussions at the Monday night forum, in which independent candidate Andrew Thaler from Nimmitabel refused to wear a mask, declared to the meeting that he was "not a risk" to them, and was asked to leave by the organisers.
Labor candidate and recently elected Queanbeyan-Palerang councillor Bryce Wilson was part of the voting bloc within the council which, at its first meeting since the recent local government election, declared the Bungendore Park location for the high school no longer had the council's support and asked the NSW government to consider alternatives. While he supported the high school, he wanted the NSW Department of Education to "come back with a solution that works".
Ms Overall told the forum that she believed the council backflip was politically motivated, that seven alternative sites for the school had been analysed before the centre-town site was chosen and she would "fight for this community to see it [the high school] happen".
The centre-town location proposal for the high school would carve off part of the historic Mick Sherd oval and remove other long-standing town infrastructure but in return deliver a new pool and library. Funding for the Bungendore high school has been set aside by the NSW government and some members of the community have expressed their concern that drawing out the decision-making process could add years to the project delivery.
The Monaro electorate covers 20,500 square kilometres and has returned a member supporting the government in 26 of the 29 NSW elections. In the late 1970s and early 80s it was held by Labor, then wrestled back by the Nationals in four successive elections. Steve Whan's popularity as a local Labor member carried the seat for the next two elections before it returned to the Nationals.
The most populous Queanbeyan-Googong area holds the key to the election and could trend back to Labor in the absence of the Barilaro personal vote. The outlying rural areas, with its large amount of hobby farmers and treechangers, offers hope for Greens candidate Catherine Moore and Sustainable Australia candidate James Holgate, whose preferences are more likely to flow to Labor.
The southern areas, which takes in the farming and logging districts of Adaminaby, Bombala and Nimmitabel, trend toward the Nationals, with the booths at Cooma, Jindabyne and Berridale all recording strong returns for the party at the previous election.
