The Bendigo Health professional has been involved with the ALP since 2013 and said he decided to contest the seat — which now has seven candidates — when it became obvious Murray Plains needed representation.
It was only last week that Mr Hurrell stepped up to the plate as a candidate for the “safe” Nationals seat, which is held by state leader and Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh.
He, along with Mr Walsh, Family First candidate Cameron MacPherson, Freedom Party’s Katia Bish, Glenys Leung from the Animal Justice Party, Fusion Party candidate from the May 2022 Federal election Andrea Otto and the Greens John Brownstein make up the field for the Murray Plains electorate.
And while there were only a dozen members of the small bore rifle club in attendance on Sunday morning, Mr Hurrell has started with a bang (forgive the pun).
He and Labor candidate for Northern Victoria James McWhinney pledged $50,000 in funding support for the small bore rifle club if a Victorian Labor government was returned to power on November 26.
The announcement was quite a shock for club president Bernie Noonan, who only a couple of months ago had been informed the club had been unsuccessful with its submission.
Mr Hurrell, a qualified nurse and father of two, lives in Bendigo and will be on site at pre-polling sites in Echuca (Pakenham St) and Swan Hill this week.
He has a tough assignment ahead, with Mr Walsh taking a 74 per cent stranglehold from the 2018 state election into the November 2022 count.
“My job is to tell the story of what the Labor government has done for Murray Plains and will continue to do,” he said.
Mr McWhinnery, a health union representative, is one of five Labor candidates for Northern Victoria (the Legislative Council, or upper house), among a total of more than 50 candidates from 22 parties.
He has thrown his hat in the ring with the retirement of Mark Gepp from the seat. Labor Party incumbent Jaclyn Symes and current upper house members for Northern Victoria Tim Quilty (Liberal Democrat), Wendy Lovell (Liberal) and Tania Maxwell (Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party) are all seeking re-election.
More about the small bore rifle club in sport today.
