Wagga business consultant Mark Jeffreson will be Labor's candidate for the seat of Riverina at the next federal election, which is due to be held in May at the latest.
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Mr Jeffreson said one of the issues he will campaign on will be economic recovery as the nation moves out of COVID-19 restrictions.
"The economics have gotten a bit worse since 2019, not everything has been in the government's control but a lot of things that are in the government's control, they have lost control of, and that has led to economic impacts, particularly small to medium businesses," he said.
"There are businesses that have been pretty resilient and they have been given government funds when it turned out they didn't need it, and they didn't give it back.
"Meanwhile small to medium businesses who were crying out for [assistance], didn't get it and now they are heading for the wall in record numbers."
Mr Jeffreson, 64, owns a firm that offers business consulting and has been living in Wagga since 1987. He ran for Labor in Riverina during the 2019 federal election, winning just over 30 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.
"Running for political office was quite different from anything else I had done before as I had been in the business and corporate world," Mr Jeffreson said.
There could be a wider field contesting Riverina this time around, with Dean McRae announcing his candidacy for the Liberal Democrats, Pennie Scott running as an independent, and Clive Palmer's United Australia Party announcing candidates for all seats via full-page newspaper adverts.
Mr Jeffreson said he expected more independent and minor party candidates to come forward and he claimed this would be in response to "disaffection" with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
"We're running as an alternative government to a government that has been completely chaotic; the day-to-day running of the country is something they can't do, when crisis strikes they are nowhere and they do nothing when they are tested," Mr Jeffreson said.
Incumbent Riverina MP Michael McCormack has been preselected by the National Party to run and has recommitted to standing for office again despite losing his position as party leader, cabinet minister and deputy prime minister.