Three strong contenders and a mish-mash of minor candidates once again made for an interesting race and a complicated preferences count that will take days to be finalised. The Echo went on a deepdive into the polling data to see how we voted around the electorate, revealing the picture of Byron Shire being a Greens stronghold, and Labor edging ahead of The Nationals in both the Tweed and Ballina shires.

Buckle up peeps, the federal election is May 3, and there are ten candidates for the marginal Richmond electorate who are vying for your precious vote.

NSW Liberal MP Catherine Cusack’s office has confirmed with The Echo that she has announced her intention to resign over the failure of the Federal Government to announce extra disaster payments for the Tweed, Byron and Ballina local government areas.

The National Party has retained fast-food retailer Matthew Fraser as its candidate for the seat of Richmond at the upcoming federal election following a preselection battle with Tweed Shire councillor Carolyn Byrne.