THE biggest dummy-spit of the Calare campaign must go Nick Xenophon Team candidate Rod Bloomfield, who has steadfastly gone to ground since Saturday’s federal election.
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Mr Bloomfield was one of the most vocal local candidates in the lead-up to Saturday’s poll but has not returned a single call from Fairfax Media in the days since.
Despite a long career in the media as a broadcast lecturer at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, Mr Bloomfield apparently issued a self-imposed ban shortly after the close of polls at 6pm.
And his vote numbers might explain why.
In the days leading up to the election, Mr Bloomfield said he was confident of out-polling Greens candidate Delanie Sky and even harboured hopes of giving Labor’s Jess Jennings a battle for second place behind new Calare MP Andrew Gee.
Instead, the latest figures posted by the Australian Electoral Commission on Wednesday show he finished fifth out of seven candidates on primary votes.
Mr Bloomfield secured just 5.35 per cent of the primary vote across Calare, in front of only independent Anthony Craig (3.78 per cent) and Christian Democratic Party candidate Bernie Gesling (2.28 per cent).
Worse, a booth-by-booth analysis of Mr Bloomfield’s polling showed the Nick Xenophon name held little sway with the electorate, despite party leader Mr Xenophon appearing twice in the region during campaigning.
Mr Bloomfield’s strongest result, by far, was in his home town of Molong where he secured 14.09 per cent of the primary vote, behind Mr Gee (56.6 per cent) and almost level-pegging with Dr Jennings (14.33 per cent).
Next best was Lucknow where he picked up 10.43 per cent of primaries at a much smaller booth and Oberon (eight per cent) responded well to his support for their anti-amalgamation push.
Elsewhere, though, the NXT struggled to get its primary vote above six per cent, dashing any hopes of featuring in the final analysis.
Even so, Mr Bloomfield’s refusal to speak about those figures is unacceptable.
Prior to the poll he was happy to use the local media to speak to voters and those same voters deserve to hear from him now.
Silence is no way to treat the local media, nor local voters. A media educator should certainly know better.
