Linda Burney will become the first indigenous woman to sit in the House of Representatives if she wins Barton for the Labor Party in the election on Saturday.
But, it will be no easy task as she is up against sitting Liberal Nick Varvaris, a man of Greek heritage, who enjoys wide community support in St George.
Mr Varvaris won the seat, which had been a Labor stronghold, in 2013 by a slim 0.3 per cent margin.
The electoral redistribution has made the job of retaining it much more difficult, with Labor having a notional margin of 4.4 per cent, two party preferred.
As a result of the redistribution, President Avenue, Brighton-Le-Sands became Barton’s southern boundary.
The seat lost strong Liberal voting booths in suburbs such as Monterey, Dolls Point and Sans Souci, and moved north into solid Labor supporting areas like Tempe, Marrickville and Dulwich Hill.
Mr Varvaris said he remained optimistic.
“I didn’t go into politics seeking a career,” he said.
“My ultimate aim was to represent the community and do the best for my party.”
”The commitments we have made over the last month did not come up overnight.
“They are items I have been lobbying ministers and the government for since I got elected.
”My ultimate aim was to ensure my three years in government was not wasted, and I could say I fought and delivered for my community irrespective of whether I got elected or not.”
Mr Varvaris said one of his main aims if re-elected would be to pursue more funding for Cooks River, to bring it up to a level equal to that of Georges River.
He claimed Labor had run “a scare campaign” on health and education.
“If you go through state Labor’s record while they were in power, they gave more money to Jubilee Oval than they did to St George Hospital,” he said.
Ms Burney resigned from State Parliament where she was the Deputy Opposition Leader to contest Barton.
Ms Burney has been involved in the political sphere for 35 years, including 13 years in State Parliament during which she served as a senior cabinet minister for four years.
She started as a school teacher at Mt Druitt in the late 1970s and moved into administration and policy and curriculum development with the Education Department.
Her achievements include heading a government organisation involved in Aboriginal education, representing Australia in Aboriginal Affairs at the United Nations and membership of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board and NSW Board of Studies.
Ms Burney said she had been overwhelmed by the support she had received in her campaign from hundreds of volunteers, who had door knocked, worked on pre-poll voting booths and undertaken many other jobs.
Ms Burney said the dominant issue was Medicare because “people know the Liberal government is undermining Medicare”, and the other main issue was the Turnbull government “ripping $28 million out of schools in this community.”
The other candidates contesting Barton include:
BRENT HEBER
Brent Heber, the Greens candidate is a small business owner in the media industry, who lives in Kingsgrove with his wife and young son.
The secretary of St George Greens, who stood for Kogarah at the last state election, has campaigned on ending subsidies to fossil fuel companies.
“By ending the billions of dollars in subsidies to fossil fuel industries who pay little tax, we will be able to transition to an innovation and jobs-rich clean economy,” he said.
He also wants to close offshore processing centres for asylum seekers.
“We also need to end our inhumane and internationally condemned offshore processing centres.
“That $3 billion needs to be redirected into settling those in need here and assisting regional processing centres, working with our neighbours to put in place pathways to safety.”
SONNY SUSILO
Sonny Susilo, the Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group) candidate for Barton, works in IT and lives in St George with his wife and young son.
He has been an active member of Life Centre International Church in Arncliffe for more than 20 years.
Mr Susilo is campaigning for a federal corruption “watchdog” to fight corruption and keep politicians honest.
He is opposed to superannuation changes, Medicare cuts and selling national assets to foreign countries.
RASMUS TORKEL
Independent Rasmus Torkel was born in 1966 in Germany and came to Australia in 1983.
A computer programmer, he lives in Rockdale with his wife and four children.
Mr Torkel highlighted housing affordability as a major problem, and said the root cause was population growth.
“We will continue to need immigrants, both to replace emigrants and to make up for the birth rate short fall,” he said.
“But the rate at which immigrants are coming is far in excess of that and, therefore, we should reduce the intake.”
HARRY TSOUKALAS
Mr Tsoukalas, a TV producer, who lives at Bexley North, represents Online Direct Democracy.
He and other members of the group are campaigning for decisions in parliament to be made not by MPs, but by people voting online.
Mr Tsoukalas said the present political system was not democracy, but an oligarchic system.
“Politicians vote according to their party line, and that's not democracy,” he said.