Ben Franklin has once again landed himself back in the NSW parliament – no locals didn’t vote him in in the seat of Ballina – he lost his bid to enter the lower house of the NSW parliament. It is understood that Mr Franklin’s seat in the senate remained vacant until after the NSW election when, not having been elected in the lower house, he ran in the preselection process in the National Party and re-won the position.
Mr Franklin has also been appointed by premier Gladys Berejiklian to the role of parliamentary secretary for energy and the arts.
‘I am deeply honoured to have been selected by the National Party to return to the legislative council,’ Mr Franklin said.
‘Although it was not the chamber I had hoped to sit in, I am very excited to continue to serve the people of New South Wales in the upper house of the NSW parliament,’ he said.
‘I am also particularly thrilled to have been given responsibility for working in the energy and arts portfolios – two areas I am particularly passionate about,’ Mr Franklin said.
‘I have worked closely with many local renewable energy and regional arts organisations over the past four years and I look forward to continuing to build those relationships and to advocate on their behalf,’ he said.
Mr Franklin previously lived in Byron Bay but has now relocated to Ballina.
‘I have loved living on the Northern Rivers – in Byron Bay and now Ballina – for the past four years. It is a wonderful, passionate and diverse community and I look forward to living here for many years to come,’ Mr Franklin said.
Hopefully this is the last we will hear from this man for a long time.
The electors of Ballina decided they did not want him but it seems he has got in the back door of the Legislative Council.
From My understanding he won the election for Ballina only to get knock out by the greens with preference votes from Labour. He had the most first preference votes.
Nice work if you can get it.
So the proof will be in the pudding…will all his promises of millions of dollars for our region during his campaign come to pass? Over to you Ben. Your credibility is on the line. If you don’t come up with the goods you can forget about any future bid for seat of Ballina.
#porkbarrel
So the Boy Wonder, despite his abject failure at the last election, is being looked after very nicely. Makes you wonder what happened to “for the people, by the bloody people…” etc.
How corrupt is this entire farce that is still referred to as “democracy”.
Little wonder that no-one trusts the political system anymore. What a joke.
The people of Ballina electorate are not a reflection of the will of the the NSW people who elect the Legislative Council. Ben Franklin was previously elected to the Legislative Council as a National candidate, the Nationals have six seats in the Council and he returns to it under our constitutional arrangements to represent the people of NSW. And as others note he was the most popular single candidate, so hardly an abject failure.
There is no longer a Parliamentary Secretary for Northern NSW and as a member of the Legislative Council and with his new portfolio responsibilities, he no longer has a role lobbying specifically for our area. That’s the job of Janelle Saffin, Tamara Smith, Geoff Provost and Chris Gulaptis. Geoff is Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism and Major Events and Chris is Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Roads and Infrastructure, both relevant portfolios for this area. Notwithstanding his formal role Ben does still live in Ballina so I am sure he will keep his eye out for us.
Well, as we all know by now, Glad gets her
own way as she’s ‘the boss’ & knows who
& how to plant her people. The Arts [live
music?] & [Energy?]…even alternative
sounds good. Count the Nats who got
a win, too. Who saw it coming!
Since Mr Franklin promised if the Coalition was elected they would inject spending of $100m to fix the roads in Ballina and Byron. Also how about funding the ocean pool for Ballina as promised? Does anyone know the obligations of this NSW Coalition election promises?
I’m sure our brave and fearless Echo will hold him to account!
To the deputy, it is an optional preferential system not first pass the post. Anyway the nats are in coalition with the libs, if not no government.