Jayme Diaz and Tony Abbott
LIBERAL candidate Jayme Diaz has been given a second chance to run against Labor MP Michelle Rowland for the federal seat of Greenway in the coming general election.
The Blacktown migration lawyer won the preselection by 69 to 27 over national anti-bullying campaigner Brett Murray while another candidate, Mark Jackson, got one vote at a meeting in Parramatta last Saturday.
Two other nominees — Angry Anderson and Hills councillor Yvonne Keane — gave up after it was clear Mr Diaz had the numbers.
Ms Rowland won the Greenway seat by a margin of 0.88 per cent, or 1400 votes, in the 2010’s election.
If Mr Diaz gets a five per cent swing, as he did in the last election, and the swing against the government is five per cent, then he would be the federal government’s first Filipino-Australian MP.
The preselection had been held up for several months by internal factional in-fighting.