The heat was turned up in Maclean on Sunday evening January 29.

After a steamy day across the district, friends and supporters of the Labor candidate for Clarence, Leon Ankersmit, rallied to officially launch his campaign for election on 25 March.

Guests were served a banquet of curries and an old-fashioned dose of fire in their bellies by special guests and Dr Ankersmit who described the fight for Clarence as a traditional Labor struggle to deliver outcomes and opportunity for all citizens including the many battlers in our electorate.

Dr Ankersmit focused on the communities in the electorate that are significantly disadvantaged in socio-economic terms when compared to the rest of the north coast and NSW.

“It is those people, those households whose daily life is a struggle, those of our neighbours for whom we are prepared to enter into this political battle. We don’t seek power or government for ourselves or for the sake of it. We seek it for a higher purpose, to improve the well-being of everyone in our community, to empower those who do struggle to be able to thrive and to share in the abundance of our wealth and opportunity so that no-one is left behind.”

“To achieve those ends here in the Clarence we need a Labor government in NSW and we need a Labor representative in our electorate.

“We need to rebuild capacity in our public services including health and education, to end privatisation, and to improve staffing and funding of essential services.

“We need Labor in Clarence to truly represent the whole spectrum of households including those who struggle to access the services they need in order to thrive; those whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by climate change; those who runs small businesses and employ workers, who are the engine rooms of our regional economies. We need to represent agriculture and industry to support economic activity.

“We need to not wash our hands of the opportunity to equip workers with advanced skills to leverage their working hours into better productivity, better wages and better future prospects.

Dr Ankersmit outlined his pitch to first-time Labor voters in Clarence: “It’s time for a fresh start in Clarence and people are feeling it. Labor has detailed and sensible policies. By comparison, the government seems tired and out of fresh ideas. People come to me every day to say they will be changing their vote this time around. Labor is listening to the electorate and Labor is ready to serve.