With Member for Ballina, Tamara Smith (Greens), saying she will not be contesting next year’s state election, Mandy Nolan says she will run for Greens preselection for the state seat of Ballina to replace her.
Ms Nolan has run twice for the local federal seat of Richmond against incumbent Justine Elliot (Labor).
Ms Smith said it was a difficult decision but she looked forward to more family time. Smith held the seat of Ballina for the past 11 years.
Ms Smith has won the past three state elections in the seat of Ballina for the Greens, taking over from the National Party when the conservative party’s popular long-serving member, Don Page, retired after serving for 27 years.
Ms Nolan acknowledged Ms Smith’s long-term commitment to her community of Ballina and Byron over the 11 years as their MP.
Former Byron Shire Labor councillor and past candidate for the seat of Ballina in 2019, Asren Pugh, has reconfirmed with The Echo that he will be seeking support to run on the Labor Party ticket for the NSW Senate (upper house) in the 2027 state election and will not seek Labor preselection for the seat of Ballina.
The Echo has also sought comment from Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader, who previously ran for preselection with the National Party for the 2015 election but was unsuccessful. She confirmed that she will speak to The Echo at a later date.
Ms Smith is credited for expanding the Ballina seat margin for the Greens at each of her three winning elections, and is the only Greens MP in NSW to have been elected Chair of a Joint Standing Parliamentary Committee and currently serves as Chair of the NSW Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the Office of the Valuer General.
‘It has been the privilege of my life to serve as the Member for Ballina and to dedicate myself to the betterment of our communities and the planet during that time,’ said Ms Smith.
‘The politics of diplomacy is the only way to deliver results as a member of a minor party, in a marginal seat, in a regional area. I am so grateful to our community, and I thank them for placing their trust in me and I believe we have shown that a Greens MP in a regional seat can deliver real results for their community,’ she said.
Mandy Nolan is an Echo columnist.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
