LABOR'S lack of a candidate for Calare even with the federal election now called is not so strange, according to Charles Sturt University Professor of Political Science Dominic O'Sullivan.
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The party has yet to announce who it will be putting up against sitting member Andrew Gee of the Nationals, who has won the seat at the past two elections.
"This isn't uncommon. The Liberal Party only announced candidates for about a dozen seats for NSW last week, including seats it holds, including Farrer, North Sydney and Mitchell," Prof O'Sullivan said.
"So it's not unusual. It would be more worrisome, I think, for a party in a seat that has a chance of winning.
"Some of those marginal seats that the Liberal Party thinks it might have a reasonable chance at in NSW where it didn't have candidates, [by comparison] I think there's a bigger story there.
"I think the Liberals not having a candidate in Hughes until last week is a far more interesting story and the one that points to a party that's got some real internal problems."
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He suggested the late start in Calare for Labor and for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, who have also yet to name a candidate, would have more to do with the parties managing their brand.
"I would think Labor would almost certainly run a candidate [in Calare]. The Shooters and Fishers may do but it's a party that doesn't have a huge membership base, nor does Labor out in Calare, so it can be difficult to find [the right] people," Prof O'Sullivan said.
"Neither of those parties would expect their candidate to win, so they wouldn't be putting a lot of money or a lot of resources into it."
But he said the candidate must be credible.
"A poor candidate can do an awful lot of harm and reputational damage that can have an effect beyond Calare, for example," he said.
The other candidates for Calare are independent Kate Hook, The Greens' Kay Nankervis, United Australia's Adam Jannis and Bathurst businesswoman Stacey Whittaker for Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
