The Northern Tablelands has a new face and a new voice in parliament. Brendan Moylan is the new Member of the Legislative Assembly, Member for Northern Tablelands and the Member of The Nationals.
This is a big challenge for Brendan, after the former representative for the Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall resigned in April this year.
His decision wasn’t made lightly to enter politics, and particularly the Legislative Assembly, known as a tough and sometime ruthless environment. To those who work there, it’s referred to as the “bear pit”.
After discussions with his wife Catherine and his three children, and his business partners, Brendan made the call and put up his hand for the nomination. Two months later he was declared the winner by the party with 66.4 per cent of the primary vote.
The Nationals also kept the two-party vote with 85.4 per cent of the vote. That was up from 83.3 per cent in last year’s state election.
The next steps
“It’s a big adjustment” Brendan Moylan said.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity…to try to fix people’s problems and try to help people…”.
“Essentially I’ve gone from approximately 240 clients (as a solicitor), to over a hundred thousand clients in essence (as the Member for the Northern Tablelands.”
Before COVID, he was on the road for around 110 nights a year. That, he says is going to “vastly increase” as he travels around the Northern Tablelands and sits in Parliament for around 44 days in the Budget Session (February to July) and the Spring Session (September to December).
The three big issues
Brendan Moylan has his sights focused on three key issues that people in the Northern Tablelands are facing: “cost of living, healthcare and the hospitals and law and order…”
On cost of living, Brendan says it is now his job to go to “Macquarie Street and actually fight and try to get some money back into our electorate”.
“All of the [government] funding opportunities and regional grants… that money has gone…” he said.
“There is literally hundreds of millions of dollars that was previously coming to our electorate, that is no longer coming.” Brendan says it is now his job to go to “Macquarie Street and actually fight and try to get some money back into our electorate”.
Healthcare and hospitals are “a huge issue” according to Moylan.
“It’s not only the healthcare in the hospitals, it’s getting people to the hospitals.”
“We are using our ambos (ambulance drivers) who are highly skilled and highly trained… as glorified taxi drivers”.
His plan is to get more ambulances and ambulance drivers for the Northern Tablelands.
On law and order, Moylan draws on his previous life as a solicitor, and believes that the police are doing a good job apprehending people who have committed serious crimes, but the court doesn’t reflect the communities’ expectations when sentencing.
“I believe the very best form of deterrence… is to have a magistrate who reflects community expectations in terms of sentencing”.
Throwing mud
With no background in politics and no family history in politics, Brendan Moylan has a refreshing view of politics and the political process. “If I stand up in the Legislative Assembly and act like an absolute pork chop, I’m not going to get anything done” he said.
He is taking a different approach. That includes listening and working with both sides of politics.
“I think I will be able to achieve more from that approach than throwing mud from the back benches”.
“It’s the outcome we need to obtain… some politicians get caught up in the process… the grandstanding and ridiculousness.”
“I’m not here to carry on like a clown in question time.”
As the new member for the Northern Tablelands, Brendan Moylan has less than two and a half years to prove himself as an effective member and politician. He has a fresh approach and doesn’t appear to be jaded. He has the backing of the majority of the 58,000 Northern Tablelands voters to get on with the job and bringing in money, better healthcare, better law and order and improving the cost of living in the region.
As an opposition backbencher, he has his work cut out for him, and he knows this.
“I have two and a half years to prove my worth to our community… so if I sit on the backbenches and don’t do anything, in two and half years’ time, I’ll get turfed out”.
You can watch the entire interview on New England Today, our new YouTube channel.
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