Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton today announced that Liverpool City Councillor Peter Ristevski has been endorsed as the party's candidate for the state seat of Holsworthy at the March 13 election.
Cr Ristevski joins a group of 20 lower house candidates endorsed so far as Family First builds its campaign to give voters a clear alternative to the major parties.
Mr Shelton said Cr Ristevski's record of fighting for families in Western Sydney made him the right person for Holsworthy.
"Peter has already shown he will stand up for residents who are being squeezed by overdevelopment, congestion and a cost-of-living crisis that the major parties have allowed to get out of control," Mr Shelton said.
"As a Liverpool councillor he sees first-hand what families are going through. People are telling him they can't even get into their own streets or driveways because of overcrowding. Both major parties have allowed development to outpace infrastructure.
"He is committed to tackling applications for duplexes, childcare centres and illegal prayer halls that councils currently have no real power to stop under state rules. He also wants a 24-hour after-hours GP clinic, more police and annual compensation for residents affected by the Moorebank Intermodal.
"People know that when they come to him they get every request. He has handled 1500 community requests in the past two years and says he will run the best campaign in the state."
Mr Shelton said the spread of radical Islam in Western Sydney must be halted.
"I admire Cr Ristevski's courage in speaking out against illegal Muslim prayer halls where vigils to Iranian mass murderers have been held, and his opposition to the broadcast of the Islamic call to prayer in the suburbs," Mr Shelton said.
"Family First strongly supports religious freedom, but no one is above the law. Western Sydney families deserve streets that are safe, neighbourhoods that are not overcrowded, and a government that puts their quality of life first."
Cr Ristevski said he was ready to take the fight to the major parties.
"I've never seen the economy worse in 30 years. I'll be a pain in the backside to those major parties. In politics if the window's open you go in and I will go in gangbusters," he said.
"Australians deserve a Governor-General who unites the nation rather than risks being seen to take sides in contested cultural, political and legal debates. I renew my respectful request that Her Excellency immediately sever her patronage of Equality Australia so that the office continues to serve as a symbol of national unity above politics and advocacy."
