HUME candidates are hitting the ground running following Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s July 2 election announcement on Sunday.
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So far four candidates have put their name forward for the electorate, which now stretches as far north as Camden.
Today, in the start of ‘the real campaign,’ we give you a rundown on the contenders.
Sitting Liberal Party member Angus Taylor is standing for his second term against the Labor Party’s, Aoife Champion.
The Greens candidate is transgender woman Michaela Sherwood, and Christian Democratic Party (CDP) candidate is Adrian Van Der Byl.
Angus Taylor (Liberal Party)
SITTING Member for Hume and Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, Angus Taylor, 49, was born in Cooma where his family were well known cattle and sheep graziers.
He was educated in Nimmitabel, south of Cooma, and attended high school at the King’s School, Parramatta. He then went on to study law and economics at Sydney University, and became a Rhodes scholar, also studying a Masters degree in Economics from Oxford University in the UK.
Before entering politics, he co-founded and was a management consultant with Growth Farms Australia, as well as serving as a partner with law firm McKinsey and Co from 1994-2001.
He was involved as a program director for the Rabobank Farm Leadership program from 1998, a director with Port Jackson Partners from 2002 and a co-founder and director of Eastern Australia Irrigation from 2007. Mr Taylor also sat on the NSW Liberal Party’s finance committee.
Mr Taylor moved to Goulburn in late 2011 with his wife Louise and their four children. He was elected to Parliament in September, 2013.
Michaela Sherwood (Greens)
Ms SHERWOOD is a transgender woman and a scientist with a background in IT and is also a lobbyist for human rights.
She lives in Bundanoon and before that resided in Canberra for 25 years. She has been an IT practitioner for 45 years, 18 of which were spent running her own consultancy business, specialising in IT procurement and contract management.
She said one of the reasons she was running for parliament was to increase the visibility of transgender people.
“The Greens are the only principled party that takes combating social injustice seriously,” she told the Post in April.
“Being a transgender woman, I relate to and empathise with all people of diversity who experience prejudice. Social equity is big on my agenda, and I am from the working class in England.
“I put myself through university. I am quite sensitive and supportive of people who are getting the ‘raw end’ of the deal.”
Aoife Champion (Labor Party)
BORN in Camden of Irish parents who migrated to Australia, Labor candidate Aoife (pronounced Eefa) Champion, 36, can remember many political conversations around the family dining table.
In her formative years and because of her enquiring mind, she decided that she would study law.
She went on to work for both the NSW state government and the UK government in legal work, travelling widely in between.
She is also a mother of two young children and is currently works as a legal consultant.
Adrian Van Der Byl (Christian Democratic Party)
Mr VAN Der Byl is 62 and is a veteran of several state and federal election tilts.
He was eduacted at Narromine Primary, Upper Main Arm Primary and Mullumbimby High Schools.
Later he studied electronics and communications and a Diploma in Information Technology at TAFE.
For 40 years he was employed in telecommunications and radio with PMG, Telstra, Civil Aviation and in the defence industry. He is currently retired.
His hobbies and interests include amateur radio, reformed theology and classical music.
