EXCLUSIVE
By Jorian Gardner

RICHARD Mulcahy, leader of the newly formed Canberra Party has revealed his running mates in the seat of Molonglo for the upcoming ACT election.
Mother-of-two Joanne Allen, an IT business manager and previously a senior lecturer in tourism at CIT, and Mulcahy staffer Ben O’Neill, who holds qualifications in law and actuarial studies and is currently completing his PhD in statistics, will run on the ticket.
“The Canberra Party has held discussions with a wide range of individuals and have selected our candidates very carefully,” said Mr Mulcahy, who separated in a wave of controversy from the Liberal Party late last year. 
“We took the view that it is important to offer the community a qualified and competent team of candidates rather than just filling the slots to make up the numbers.”
Nevertheless, Allen and O’Neill will have to work hard to shake the tag of “dummy candidates” – only on the ticket because Mulcahy has opted, in the light of recent Electoral Act changes, to form a new party to increase his chances of getting over the line in Molonglo.
While Mr Mulcahy has said that he will not rule out running candidates in either Ginninderra or Brindabella, this would be highly unlikely given his Molonglo imperative.
“The Canberra Party is the only party for everyday Canberrans who are fed up with the excesses of majority Government and a weak, inexperienced Opposition in the ACT,” he said.