THE candidates have it the ground running in the lead up to the Federal Election on 18 May.

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Labor Candidate for Lyne, Phil Costa, recently visited the Myall Coast spending most of the day in the townships of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest.

Mr Costa along with Port Stephens MP, Kate Washington had been invited by the Myall River Action Group to take a tour of the river taking in the new Sand Transfer System, the Eastern Channel and Corrie Island.

At the heart of the tour was the issue of dredging the Eastern Channel, which isn’t scheduled to be started for at least two years.

“We’re not going to get another two years out of it, so it’s important we get Council to bring it forward and some funding from the Federal Government,” MRAG’s Gordon Grainger told Mr Costa.

“I can accept the Commonwealth’s responsibility, anything that we can do to bring the environment back to a pristine level we are obliged to do,” Mr Costa said.

Phil Costa is no stranger to politics.

He started his working life as a schoolteacher before entering politics, first at a local level then entered State Parliament and served as a Minister for Water, Corrective Services and Regional Development in 2008.

Mr Costa and his family moved to a property at Minimbah near Nabiac several years ago.

“When I was approached to stand, I was very happy, I love the area and I’ve hit the ground running, Lyne is a big paddock,” Mr Costa said.

The Labor candidate will need a swing of more than 11 percent to win the seat of Lyne from the Nationals’ Dr David Gillespie who’s held the seat since 2013.

As they did ahead of the recent State Government election, the Hawks Nest Tea Gardens Progress Association has invited Dr. Gillespie and Mr Costa for a “Meet the Candidates’ talk with the local community.

Dr Gillespie has chosen Tuesday 30 April, Mr Costa will front the audience on Thursday 2 May.

Both sessions will field questions from the community and will be held at the Tea Gardens Baptist Church at 6pm.

By: Margie TIERNEY