THE BDN approached the eight candidates for Eden-Monaro and asked them to make their final appeal to voters.
Each was given the same timeframe in which to respond, the same 150-word limit and a strict deadline.
Below are the submissions received by the deadline, in the order candidates will appear on the ballot paper.
Who you vote for is entirely your own decision, but here is why our candidates would like your support in Saturday's federal poll.
PETER HENDY, LIBERAL PARTY
I HAVE argued from the outset that this election is a clear choice between more of the same from Labor and real change from the Coalition.
The choice between the major parties could not be clearer.
At this election, the Coalition offers strong, experienced and stable government, a stronger economy, stronger borders, a stronger Australia and a better future – for all Australians.
Labor is offering just more of the same - more talk, more chaos, more division, more debt, more deficits and more taxes.
Only the Coalition can form the strong, stable government to deliver a stronger economy with more jobs, real help for families and small business, lower taxes and secure borders.
If you want an active and strong voice in an Abbott Government, then vote for me, Peter Hendy, to be your representative in that government.
It would be an honour to serve the people living in Eden-Monaro.
MARTIN TYE, STABLE POPULATION PARTY
CURRENT pro-population growth policies supported by the other parties (over 1000 people every day) are crippling our economy, driving up energy and water prices, and destroying quality of life for all Australians.
A stable population is the first step in creating a resilient economy to sustain and enhance prosperity.
The benefits will flow through to all regional areas, which are currently being left behind as the cities grow bigger.
We are here to give you a voice on the population issue.
We address the cause, not the symptoms, so the people of Eden-Monaro can prosper into the future.
Please go to our website www.populationparty.org.au for more detail.
Send a message to the other parties. Vote 1 Stable Population Party.
Send your preferences where you like, but don’t give them a mandate for their “big” Australia.
Vote for a “better not bigger” future for Eden-Monaro, Australia and future generations.
MIKE KELLY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY
MY FAMILY has lived in this region for 166 years and many of my relatives still live right here in the Bega Valley.
I care deeply about the region and I will never stop fighting for our community.
I am proud that since 2007 our government has delivered an unprecedented $330million in health services funding in Eden-Monaro.
We have also upgraded every school, investing $126million in new libraries, halls and other facilities.
In Bega, we have achieved so much together over the past six years including the $60million Bega Bypass, the $170million new South East Regional Hospital, $19.8million for the Wollongong University campus and a huge range of community infrastructure, roads, social housing, sporting and environmental projects.
The NBN is now being rolled out across Eden-Monaro, with much of the region due to be completed by mid-2016.
Bega has such an exciting future.
With your support, we can continue to build that future.
DEAN LYNCH, PALMER UNITED PARTY
HAVING been the Mayor of the Cooma-Monaro shire for the past four years I can say with experience and insight that both the major parties in the federal arena have lost the ability to guide our regional towns and centres back on track.
I'm not going to make statements about new roads, schools or broadband just to get your vote.
Frankly, a new road to a ghost town is a waste of money!
We need more than a new road or a new school - we need vision, strategy and governance.
If elected I will represent you in a way you haven't seen before.
I will invigorate our once busy and bustling regional towns and centres back to their former glory.
That's my promise!
CATHERINE MOORE, THE GREENS
DESPITE what you may have heard, The Greens have excellent policies.
To see what we really stand for, please visit www.greens.org.au/initiatives-and-policies.
We must speak out for farmers and food producers against big miners and the supermarket duopoly.
We don't want native forests woodchipped and burned for so-called green power – we want a local, sustainable, plantation-based timber and pulp industry.
We support marine parks and the substantial science around them – to bring biodiversity and fish stocks back to our depleted oceans.
We must move quickly from coal to renewables – to create a healthy environment and thousands of jobs.
Let us show compassion towards asylum seekers, close offshore detention and establish 30 day limits for processing.
We need to change the way we do politics and work co-operatively together – to achieve the best we can for now and the future, for a caring Australia and a liveable planet.
COSTAS GOUMAS, CITIZENS ELECTORAL COUNCIL
THE people of Eden-Monaro should vote for me because I stand for a Glass-Steagall separation of essential banking from speculation, a government-run national bank, and big public infrastructure projects to support the real economy and create jobs.
These are the banner policies of the Citizens Electoral Council, which have been carefully developed to address the deepening economic crisis in Australia.
Although the major parties deny there is a crisis, the majority of Australians are suffering.
We are experiencing steep rises in the cost of living, crises in the key industry sectors of agriculture and manufacturing, rising unemployment, and regional decay.
The authorities expect another financial crisis - hence Treasury is preparing legislation to enact Cyprus-style “bail-in” powers, to seize our deposits to prop up the next bank that fails.
The CEC will stop this law, and instead protect deposits from reckless and criminal speculators through a Glass-Steagall banking separation.
ANDREW THALER, INDEPENDENT
As the only Independent standing for Eden-Monaro, I have the unique ability and freedom to articulate the truth, free from party political lines and strategies.
I am not stage-managed, as many of the other candidates are.
I also have no need to lie to the public, and would derive no benefit from lying.
This last week someone has employed a disgusting and slanderous attack on me, and even my pregnant wife, using electronic media.
I know who is behind it and it is an expression of how desperate they are to gain votes.
Their strategy has not worked, as the public, you, are not stupid.
I can fight back. I can fight for the people who deserve so much more.
I urge you to carefully consider your vote.
I ask you to put an Independent in the job, as I am someone who knows there is more to Eden-Monaro than Queanbeyan and Batemans Bay.