‘Big shoes to fill’: Raissa Butkowski preselected by Liberals to run in Farrer

The Liberal Party has preselected Raissa Butkowski to contest the seat of Farrer in the upcoming May 9 by-election.

Ms Butkowski is an Albury City councillor and senior lawyer the at the Hume Riverina Community Legal Service

She is looking to retain the seat for the Liberals after ousted Opposition Leader Sussan Ley held it for more than two decades .

Ley’s decision to quit politics and vacate the seat triggered a four-way contest between the Liberals, Nationals, One Nation and Climate 200-backed independent Michelle Milthorpe to clinch the lower house seat.

“After twenty-five years of dedicated service to the community and in parliament, Sussan Ley leaves big shoes to fill,” Ms Butkowski said on Sunday.

“I’m humbled to be preselected, but know there’s a lot of hard work ahead.

“Families are struggling with the cost of living, small businesses face rising costs, farmers face uncertainty and our local health system needs fixing.

“The Farrer by-election is about choosing a new representative, who can get things done for this community – now and into the future.

“It’s also an opportunity to send this Labor Government a message and keep them accountable. The best way to do that is by voting Liberal.”

Ms Butkowski is also on the board of the Murray Darling Association, has previously worked as a lab technician at a pathology service and as a tennis coach.

She also holds three degrees - in law, biomedical science and nutrition – and is studying for a Master of Business.

Both the Nationals and One Nation have already announced their candidates, Albury community leader Brad Robertson and Narrandera-based agribusiness professional David Farley, respectively.

The by-election has been touted as the first big test for new Opposition Leader Angus Taylor who is tasked with ensuring the seat is retained by the Liberals.

But recent polling has found One Nation is leading the primary preference vote in the rural NSW electorate.

The Australia Institute surveyed 1170 voters across Farrer after the electorate’s by-election was called on March 5.

One Nation topped the count at 28.6 per cent, followed by independent Ms Milthorpe (23.3 per cent), the Liberal Party (19.1 per cent), Labor (9 per cent), undecided voters (8.6 per cent) and the Greens (3.9 per cent), and the remaining 2.3 per cent favoured another party or candidate.

But despite this result, further findings show preference flows could be a major thorn in One Nation’s side.

Of the remaining 71.4 per cent that would not preference One Nation first, more than half (64.1 per cent) would not consider voting for the party at all, while 10.7 per cent were unsure.

For Ms Milthorpe, only 31.6 per cent would not consider voting for her, with almost the same proportion (31.7 per cent) undecided.