Troubled waters divide Liberal and National hopefuls vying for Victorian seat of Nicholls

The safe Coalition seat with a 20% margin is up for grabs after the retirement of Nationals MP Damien Drum. His departure has cleared the way for Liberal candidate Steve Brooks and National candidate Sam Birrell to contest the seat, which was once held for two decades by Liberal MP Sharman Stone.

However they also face stiff competition from high-profile independent and local businessman Rob Priestly, who is closely aligned to the Victorian state independent member Suzanna Sheed.

Water is a key issue in the electorate, which is home to a large agricultural and food production industry. The Coalition remains committed to recovering the 450GL in environmental water by the 2024 deadline but not through voluntary buybacks from farmers. However Brooks is opposed to the additional water recovery, as are some renegade National MPs.

In a recent opinion piece in the Shepparton News, Brooks has claimed Birrell and Priestly had no interest in water policy until they decided to run, even though both men worked on water socioeconomic plans in 2016 in their roles at the committee for greater Shepparton.

Brooks is a contentious choice for the Liberal party. His father, Chris Brooks, is chairman of Southern Riverina Irrigators and is leading a class action against the Murray Darling Basin Authority.

Chris Brooks also helped organise and fund independent candidate and Albury mayor Kevin Mack to run against Liberal minister, Sussan Ley, in the seat of Farrer in the 2019 election.

Rob Priestly rejected Brooks claim that an independent would have no influence. He said he could provide an important voice in the Basin system, between a National party strongly influenced by northern basin interests and the Liberal party influenced by South Australian basin interests.

David McKenzie is a water valuer who co-chairs regional thinktank GMID Water Leadership Forum with Sheed.