Illawarra mayoral candidate unable to run because of the Liberal party speaks out 04:22

Well, John Doraghy wanted to be the mayor of Wollongong after Gordon Bradbury, long-term mayor, decided to pull the pin. He was a chance at winning, John Doraghy, and he doesn't want anything to do with these offshore wind farms. But guess what? He's not on the ticket either. He's on the line for us. John, g'day. Yeah, good afternoon. Isn't it a good afternoon, Chris? I'm not so sure. Not for you, it's not. How do you feel? Totally disappointed, disillusioned.

You know, it's my city. It's one that I love to represent. And now I don't have the opportunity to. When did you put all your paperwork into New South Wales Liberal HQ? The end of last week. Everything was correlated by Sunday night, I believe, and everything was sent into Liberal headquarters for Monday or Tuesday nomination.

Hey, John, it's not like this is a surprise, right? We've known for four years what the election date was. Yeah. We have, Chris, and it's very saddening news because we'd really like to have an option here in Wollongong for...

So not just the wind farms, but also for the engagement and the commitment to improve Wollongong as a city and as a place to live, work and play. But unfortunately, it's now just been burnt like a bonfire. Have you had a phone call from Richard Shields or anyone senior at Liberal HQ?

No, I haven't. I don't expect to, to be brutally honest, unfortunately. But, you know, there is costs associated with preparing for an election and my fellow councillors, candidates, should I say, are all putting in money and the fact that they've spent money, you know, is the Liberal Party going to stump up and look after...

all those costs that we have all put in. How much, roughly? Oh, two weeks, mate. I should imagine it'd be in the tens of thousands at the moment by all of our councillor candidates. What's next for you? John, are you going to keep your hands in it?

Well, it won't be from here because I'll be on the sidelines, of course, as a local resident. And I'll send in the odd email, I guess, and phone calls to the GM potentially or to the new Lord Mayor or Ward 2 Councils where I live to the challenges that are out there at the moment.

Hey, John, before I let you go, I can hear you're extremely disappointed because you're a good shot to give this thing a shake. What does Wollongong Council look like if it's effectively unanimously green, independent and Labor? Yeah.

I don't dare to imagine, Chris, to be brutally honest again, I think that we're in for a lame duck approach. We don't get major funding or grants from any of the Labor governments or any government for that matter because it's such a strong Labor town but at the same time unless you have a choice and there's plenty of people out there wanting the choice and I know walking around and

seeing different businesses and different residences. They're all saying, we need you on board and we hope you win. I was only at a function last night where people were receiving AOs and OAMs and all this sort of thing, and they're coming up and saying, oh, gee, we hope you win this election. We don't want the alternative. So interesting times.

Hey, John, I'm very sorry that you've had to go through all this. It's extremely disappointing, but keep fighting against that wind farm, all right? Yeah, I certainly will, Chris. Thank you very much, mate. All the best. And to you. That's John Doraghy.