All five declared candidates took their places on the panel, including the Nationals’ Dugald Saunders, who in spite of the event’s namesake, had a vocal group of supporters. At the outset he pointed to a list of the party’s accomplishments.

Among the hot topics were climate change and renewable energy, with community representative on the panel Sharrelle Fellows noting that she wasn’t aware of any Nationals’ climate change policy.

Saunders said he believes any renewables action needs to be balanced with the existing industry and shouldn’t come into conflict with agriculture. Which was echoed by Shooters Fishers and Farmers candidate Lara Quealy, who also implied that she wasn’t convinced of climate change.

Independent Mathew Dickerson expressed his passion for renewables and highlighted the need for a transition period from fossil fuels, making mention of the importance of mining to employment in the region.

The Greens’ Rod Pryor spoke of the urgency surrounding the worsening of climate change and said, “if you think you’ve got 40 years you’re dreaming”. And Stephen Lawrence said under Labor you would see a “surge in renewables”.

Moderator and Anyone But Nats co-founder, Rohan Boehm, noted after the forum “the red-hot point at the moment is the environment and issues particularly surrounding what you can see in the Darling River”.

“And the questions and answers indicate that the community is pretty much laying a lot of the blame at the feet of the Nats,” he said. “Interestingly though, the candidates actually don’t have the answers and I think they’d love to be able to find them, but they’re grasping as much as the community.”

Mr Boehm added that he was happy with how it went.

“It was a very good exchange of ideas, lots of really pertinent questions and some tough ones as well. I thought it really put the test on the candidates in terms of their capabilities, which is what this is all about,” he said. “Education and economic development and some of those key drivers that the community is looking for, were covered off but we could’ve gone on for hours. I’ve had a few comments so far saying ‘this is democracy in action’, and that’s exactly what we want, conversations and we want to see them brought out in the open.”

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