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Labor has had better success in choosing good candidates, as shown in recent state byelections. Well-known South Coast obstetrician Michael Holland, who had long links to the community, seized Bega from the Liberals while Jason Yatsen-Li, a second generation Chinese-Australian, held Strathfield for Labor.

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Of course, Labor does not always get it right. You need no more proof than Les win in Fowler in the federal election on Saturday. Kristina Keneally, the former premier who led NSW Labor to a crushing defeat in 2011, was parachuted into Fowler to sort out Labors internal squabbles over the partys Senate ticket. The voters saw straight through Labor and turned to the local candidate who was far more representative than Keneally of the diverse community. The result? Labor lost a safe seat to an independent (who the Liberals had failed to keep).

Labor may have a slight edge in picking suitable candidates but its path to victory in March is far more complex than simply choosing good representatives. The federal result also reveals an ominously low primary vote for Labor in the area too low, if it translates to the state election, for the party to win in western Sydney, where it will matter.

Federal Labor went backwards in Lindsay, which encompasses the ultra-marginal state Liberal seat of Penrith, and the result in Fowler spells disaster for the newly created state seat of Leppington, which is notionally Labor but by a wafer-thin margin.

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There were mixed results for Labor in Banks on Saturday, and in what would worry party strategists, the ALP took a hit in booths in East Hills and Revesby exactly in the areas where it needs to be picking up votes, not losing them, if it has any hope in the state election.

The federal election showed that the rule book has been rewritten for both the Liberals and Labor. Votes have fragmented, and with an optional preferential system in NSW, primary votes have never been more important. The task ahead is huge for Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns.

Original post:
Dai Le, the perfect female Liberal candidate - rejected by NSW Liberals - Sydney Morning Herald