General News
25 April, 2025
Election 2025: Meet the candidates for Parkes
The Federal Election will take place on May 3, 2025
With the federal election looming next month, we provide you with information about those who have announced their candidacy for the Parkes electorate.
Division of Parkes Profile
The Parkes electorate takes in 406,755 square kilometres west of the Great Dividing Range, or 50.1 per cent of the state.
Parkes is three times the size of the second largest NSW electorate, neighbouring Farrer, and almost twice the size of Victoria.
Major regional hubs in the electorate include Moree, Walgett, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Dubbo, Forbes, Parkes, Condobolin, Cobar, Broken Hill, Bourke and Brewarrina.
Since its recreation in 1984, the Parkes electorate has always been held by the Nationals. The very safe Nationals seat recorded an 18.2 per cent swing towards the country party at the last federal election in 2022.
In that election, sitting member Mark Coulton MP received just over 49 per cent of the vote. Labor’s Jack Ayoub received 20 per cent of the vote followed by One Nation’s Deborah Swinbourn on 7.5 per cent of the vote.
2025 Candidates in Ballot Paper Order
Mark Carter — Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
Stephen Pope — Shooters, Fishers and Farmers
Trish Frail — The Greens
Petrus Van Der Steen — Trumper of Patriots
Bob Wilson — Indigenous Aboriginal Party of Australia
Nathan Fell — Labor Party
Jamie Chaffey— The Nationals
Maurice Davey — Family First
Stuart Howe — Independent
Sally Edwards — Libertarian
Australian Labor Party
Broken Hill local Nathan Fell is the Labor candidate for the 2025 Federal Election.
A Broken Hill resident for 22 years, after moving from Katoomba at the age of nine, the 29-year-old Mr Fell said he is ready for the role.
“I’ve got plenty of life experience, even if I don’t have the decades under my belt that other candidates have,” he said.
Mr Fell has spent most of his life working in the mining industry, which allows him to understand the impact federal government policy has on workers, he said.
Mr Fell serves on the Barrier Industrial Council; Landcare Broken Hill Executive Committee; and is a Mining and Energy Union delegate to the Trades Trust Hall.
"Parkes has been built on the strength of our mining and agricultural sectors and I am proud to work in the mining industry,” he said in a media statement.
“It is vital that we support these sectors to ensure that workers can live secure, dignified lives whilst contributing to our nation's economy."
Mr Fell believes that communities across Parkes deserve a fair go, and wants to build on Labor’s legacy of delivering for rural and remote Australia.
“There is more work to do, and I am determined to help forge a positive future with the people of Parkes. I want to build on Labor’s legacy and deliver real support to communities across our vast electorate,” he said.
Family First
Fourth generation Alectown farmer and grazier, Maurice Davey, is a candidate for the Family First party, which states on its website its vision is to create a flourishing nation through strong families and communities underpinning a civil society.
Proud of his multi-generational Christian heritage, Mr Davey and has been married to his wife Merren for 41 years, and they share four adult children and nine grandchildren.
Mr Davey is focused very strongly on the preservation and active nurture of the family unit, recognising it as the basic building block of a happy and prosperous society.
He loves working with people and community while adhering strongly to the Judeo Christian ethic and endeavours to approach issues in life with logic and common sense.
It is not the first time Mr Davey has gone around the political ring. In the 2019 NSW state election he was the Christian Democrats’ candidate for Orange, securing just over three per cent of the total vote. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party took the seat by 49 per cent.
Libertarian
Out-of-the-box thinking in government is what drives the Libertarian candidate for Parkes, Sally Edwards.
Hailing from the Warrumbungle Region, Ms Edwards announced her candidacy for the Division of Parkes in early March.
With a lifetime of living and volunteering across rural and remote Australia, Ms Edwards and her family have been in the Parkes electorate living life on the land for the past 18 years.
Ms Edwards was recognised as the Barwon Local Woman of the Year for 2025, nominated for her tireless community work and advocacy for rural NSW, where she drives change in her local areas and ensures that those around her are represented and heard.
In a media statement earlier this year, Ms Edwards outlined her commitment to the Parkes electorate if she was to win the seat at the federal election.
Her priorities include lowering the cost of energy; supporting money and the economy; cutting bureaucratic “red-tape”; and working with a non-negotiable stance to honesty, transparency and accountability in Canberra.
She believes the major parties have let down rural communities and believes what is needed in Parkes is a Member who will support families, communities, small business and industry that gives an unrestricted foundation to work towards safety, security and longevity for regional Australians.
“If elected, I will stand to protect and support family, small business and the rural way of life,” she explained.
“I believe a strong cross-bench can help balance out an over-sized and often mis-managed government. While I can’t stand to promise the outcomes we work towards, I can and do stand to promise the way that I will work towards them.”
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers
Stephen Pope recently announced on social media his candidacy for the seat of Parkes for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers (SFF).
The SFF believes that the major parties have become the “Coles and Woolworths” of politics, and says their platform is to address the terminal decline of forgotten Australians and their communities and that they are the only party fighting for civil liberties, freedoms and the lifestyles of everyday, ordinary Australians.
The Greens
It is the second-time round on the campaign trail for Greens’ candidate for Parkes, Trish Frail, who contested the 2022 federal election and secured just over four per cent of the vote.
A second-term councillor at Brewarrina Shire Council and proud Ngemba woman, Ms Frail is passionate about the environment and says she is 100 per cent committed to working with the community to tackle climate change.
A published writer and small business owner, Ms Frail has served on many community committees and boards, including the NSW government housing committee, and Brewarrina Hospital Board. She is also a co-founder of the Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre.
After returning from Western Australia a few years ago, Ms Frail returned to Brewarrina where she rallied the Shire Council to drop a proposal to build a nuclear waste dump.
She was successful in that campaign called “No Bunda Bunda on Ngemba land” (“bunda bunda” means bad poison) after highlighting community concern about the health and safety of residents as well as the environment.
One of the most contentious issues in Parkes electorate ahead of the federal election is renewable energy. With Parkes communities Dubbo, Narromine and Gilgandra bordering the Central West-Orana Renewable Energy Zone, many residents are concerned about renewable energy projects in the region.
“Many of the people I talk to in rural communities want real action on climate change but they also recognise that renewable energy projects are an essential part of the mix,” she explained.
“Balance is the key here.”
The National Party
Born and raised in regional NSW, Jamie Chaffey is The Nationals’ candidate for Parkes.
He has lived in the Gunnedah community since 1991 and resides on a grain and cattle property just outside town.
A boilermaker by trade, Mr Chaffey was elected to Gunnedah Shire Council in 2016 and was then elected as Mayor, serving until 2021, where he was re-elected as a councillor and Mayor.
On his campaign website, Mr Chaffey lays out his priorities for the electorate which includes advancing the completion of the Inland Rail project, empowering population growth and fostering sustained opportunities for regional people and enhancing value through processing regional commodities by creating jobs in raw agricultural product sectors.
While he has not announced specific policies, Mr Chaffey was in Trangie earlier this year alongside Deputy Leader of the Nationals, Perin Davey for an election funding commitment at the showgrounds and racecourse.
“I am looking forward to engaging with constituents and listening to their concerns, ideas and opinions as I travel around the electorate on the campaign trail,” Mr Chaffey said in a media statement last year.
Indigenous Aboriginal Party of Australia - Bob Wilson
The Indigenous Aboriginal Party of Australia (IAPA) is again putting forward a candidate for the Division of Parkes with Wilcannia-born, Bob Wilson, contesting the seat.
The IAPA had previously nominated Derek Hardman at the 2022 Federal Election at which he finished fifth in the vote with around 5 per cent of ballots cast in Parkes.
Bob Wilson is himself a proud Dunghutti and Barkindji man and grew-up in Wilcannia in the late 1950’s and 1960’s where he said he personally experienced a great deal of racism and discrimination, according to his campaign website.
Mr Wilson will be campaigning for policies such as healthy rivers, keeping Indigenous kids with their families, no juveniles in youth detention, and saving Indigenous sacred sites.
The IAPA was formed by Uncle Owen Whyman, a Barkindji/Malyangapa man from Wilcannia in an effort to create the first political party that cares about Indigenous issues.
Independent — Stuart Howe
Independent candidate for Parkes, Stuart Howe, is on his second bite at the cherry in the electorate having previously contested the seat at the 2022 Federal poll where he earned 2.5 per cent of the vote.
He also contested the seat of Barwon at the 2023 State Election but only received just over 1 per cent of the total vote.
Mr Howe is campaigning on restoring the “Australian way of life” and is “pro-freedom of speech”, according to his campaign website.
He is also an anti-MRNA vaccine advocate for which he is calling for a complete ban while also advocating for the legalisation of recreational cannabis in all states and territories.
Mr Howe has policies on a range of other issues including education, the beer tax, healthcare, family and domestic violence, and gun laws.
Trumpet of Patriots — Peter Van Der Steen
Billionaire mining magnate, Clive Palmer, is back again this election spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on his 2025 tilt at Federal poll, with his newly-formed “Trumpet of Patriots” party.
This group was only formed in February of this year after his United Australia Party (UAP) was unable to re-register with the Australian Electoral Commission for the 2025 election.
Previously, it was revealed that Mr Palmer spent more than $120 million in total to win just one Senate seat for the UAP at the 2022 ballot.
Announced late last week, former UAP candidate-turned-Trumpet of Patriots, Peter Van Der Steen, will be contesting Parkes at the Saturday, May 3 vote.
Mr Van Der Steen had run under the UAP banner at the 2022 poll, receiving just 2.7 per cent of the total vote.
A professional musician with a diverse background in security and the technology industry, Mr Van Der Steen said on his campaign website that he brings “a strong voice for everyday Australians”.
“Australians are crying out for leadership that understands real life — not the career politics of the Canberra bubble,” he said.
Mr Van Der Steen is campaigning under policies including establishment of a US-style “Department of Government Efficiency”, cutting immigration, allowing Australians to use 30 per cent of their superannuation to buy a house, and freedom of speech and choice.
