Botched paperwork derails Robin’s bid

Botched paperwork derails Robin’s bid

By CLARE HAYES
A FAILED attempt to fill out the candidates’ paperwork properly has cost Robin Cartledge a chance to contest this month’s federal election.
The 64-year-old Port Macquarie grandfather announced his intentions to run as an independent for the seat of Lyne in May.
On Thursday he arrived at the Australian Electoral Comm¬ission’s Taree office ahead of deadline with most of his forms. It was the missing page which meant his nomination was declared null and void.
“Yeah, I dropped the ball û it was my own fault,” Mr Cartledge told the Port Macquarie News.
Mr Cartledge started campaigning with the slogan ‘Who Cares?’
He challenged the federal government’s response to health and suggested the Lyne MP Mark Vaile did not care about the health needs of rural residents.
A quirk of the campaign were plastic figurines of soldiers with the ‘Who Cares?’ logo stuck to it, which were strategically placed across town.
Mr Cartledge said he was also concerned about federation.
“Federation is being lost to us because both major parties are working towards a centralised government and ignoring the states.”
But Mr Cartledge has missed his opportunity to take the other federal candidates to task formally.
He said he was disappointed he had let down the community.
“One of the problems was, while I am passionate about democracy I’m not a social animal and didn’t have a machine working for me. I was almost a lone ranger”
Instead, Mr Cartledge has put his support behind Greens candidate for the seat of Lyne, Susie Russell.