Zuvele Leschen to run against Sophie for Indi

Alpine councillor Zuvele Leschen has won the pre selection ballot as the ALP candidate for the Federal seat of Indi at this year’s election. She defeated former Benalla Mayor John Brownstein for the nomination in fairly convincing style. Now she must take on the controversial sitting Liberal member Sophie Mirabella in what shapes as a fairly lively campaign.

Ms Mirabella’s involvement with the closure of the local tobacco industry and the later revelations of secret donations she received from the tobacco company seems certain to be one of the main issues, on a local level at least.

Win or lose it seems Cr Leschen will be obliged to step down from her role as councillor prior to the election, meaning a new Alpine councillor would have to be found from the seven unsuccessful candidates at the 2005 election. Here is the official press release kindly supplied by Cr Leschen.

LESCHEN TO RUN FOR INDI
John Williams, President of the Indi FEA for the Australian Labor Party, today announced that Alpine Shire Councillor, Zuvele Leschen, had been selected as the ALP candidate for the upcoming Federal election. Mrs Leschen, a resident of Buffalo River near Myrtleford, has previously contested the seat of Indi in 1996 and 1998. She has served on the Alpine Shire Council for seven years, having first been elected in 2000. Besides her current work as a casual teacher, Mrs Leschen has taught full time, run a second hand bookshop, worked as an electorate officer and is currently involved with a study of the effects of climate change on the Alpine shire for Monash University. She is involved in the life of her local community. She served for six years on the Board of Alpine Health and is currently secretary of the Myrtleford Savoy Soccer Club. Zuvele is also involved with the Buffalo River CFA, Friends of Reform Hill and the Buffalo River LandCare group. Mrs Leschen is secretary of her local ALP branch, a delegate to State Conference and is President of the Country Labor Executive, which advises the State Labor Party on rural and regional affairs. She has been married to Jon for twenty five years and has two sons who attend school in Myrtleford.

“I’ve worked with Zuvele in past campaigns,” Mr Williams said. “I know that she’ll be a terrific candidate for the local Labor Party in what will be an important election.”

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Reprinted from Alpine Opinion, Ray Dixon’s blog about Bright, the Alpine Shire & other things

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