Dubbo lawyer Stephen Lawrence has announced he will stand as a Country Labor candidate in the seat of Dubbo at next year's state election.
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The decision will see a contest for the electorate held by the Nationals' Troy Grant who, last week, became the NSW deputy premier when he was elevated to the leadership of his party.
Mr Lawrence's announcement of his endorsement by Labor also ends silence at both a branch and state level about the party's plans for the area.
Mr Lawrence, a first-time candidate, acknowledged he had ground to cover in just six months - the election is set for March.
Mr Grant, still in his first term in Parliament, gained 63.7 per cent of the votes on a two candidate preferred basis at the 2011 election.
His election took the seat away from an independent candidate for the first time since 1999.
The new hopeful pointed to the seat's history as he made his case.
"It's going to be really hard and a really big challenge," Mr Lawrence said.
"I think the electorate in Dubbo is unpredictable.
"This seat returned to independent for four terms, I think it was, and now Troy Grant.
"But I'm sensing there's concerns in the electorate."
Mr Lawrence, 39, contested that being a safe seat was no win for the community.
"It's my view that this is not a good situation to have such a high margin for a sitting member in a country seat, it's not healthy for the electorate," he said.
"The best thing for the electorate in my view would be to turn this seat either into a Country Labor seat or marginal seat."
Mr Lawrence, born at Griffith and raised at Wollongong and Sydney, has lived at Dubbo since 2010.
He currently works as the principle legal officer in the western region for the Aboriginal Legal Service at Dubbo.
When asked how he would reach the people who relied on Dubbo's public schools and health services, bought their homes in the city and employed workers in their businesses, he said: "not through media grabs, not through mouthing slogans".
"I think people sort of see through that these days," he said.
"The only way I'm going to attract a significant vote and a significant vote of people who haven't voted Labor before is to get out there and meet people and listen to their concerns.''
"So, I've got six months and it's mainly going to be about listening and meeting people and trying to convey to people on a personal level that I'm a serious contender for the position and that if I'm there, I'll be a 100 per cent focused on their concerns.
"I don't do that through a media interview, I don't think, I think I do that by standing in the street, meeting people."
