IN a last-minute shock to Labor’s election campaign in the NSW state seat of Monaro, Raiders’ football hero Terry Campese has withdrawn his candidacy.

In a bewildering statement issued this morning (February 17) Campese says: “Today I’m announcing that I will step down as Labor’s candidate. Not because my heart isn’t in it but because I love this community too much to drag it through the media – whether they are truthful or not.”

His resignation will almost certainly confirm incumbent Nationals backbencher Nichole Overall’s re-election at next month’s state poll, with Labor left  scrambling to replace him.

“I had never considered being a politician until I was approached late last year and informed of the difference a good member of parliament can make for the community,” Campese says.

“Unfortunately I have… come to realise that, for some, politics is not about representing people but about their own power with a ‘win at all costs’ mentality.

“In the past couple of months I have had great conversations with highly passionate people about a range of topics across the Monaro.

“I’m grateful that even in this short time I have been able to progress some of these conversations to pre-election commitments.

“This includes $80 million to build Googong high school; $40 million to complete stage two of Jerrabomberra high school; $600,000 to complete the build of Yvonne Cuschieri’s dream for a respite centre in Queanbeyan; $3.5 million to extend the current building and courts of the Queanbeyan Basketball Association; and $1.9 million to Queanbeyan City Football Club for the installation of a clubhouse and permanent change rooms.

“I have also witnessed the incredible force of the Labor volunteers and members and I thank them for their time and support.”

Campese isn’t the first Raiders captain to resign suddenly from politics. Mal Meninga famously campaigned briefly as an independent for the seat of Molonglo in the 2001 ACT Legislative Assembly election. During a radio interview on September 24, 2001, after being asked why he was standing, he pulled out mid-sentence, saying: “And the thing about that is, I guess, I was a public figure and I was put on the podium where I was just a person out there… I’m buggered, I’m sorry, I have to resign.”