Duncan McGauchie has won Liberal Party preselection for the Victorian rural electorate of Murray.
He will be seeking to replace Sharman Stone, the retiring Liberal member who has held the seat since 1996.
McGauchie is a “policy and communications expert” who has worked as an adviser to former Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu.
He is currently employed by Newgate Australia, which describes itself as “working at the interface of business, politics, markets and media”, with a “proven methodology..based around objective research, which guides strategy and campaign development and implementation”.
His Newgate profile says his areas of expertise “include issues management, government relations, public policy and regulatory communications, stakeholder engagement and corporate communications”.
McGauchie is also a member of the advisory board of the Broadmeadows Schools Network.
Murray is a northern Victorian electorate, bordering the Murray River, that includes towns such as Boort, Shepparton, Cobram, Echua. Kyabram, Mooroopna, Murchison, Nathalia, Rushworth, Violet Town, Wedderburna dn Yarrawonga. It borders Mallee to the east, Wannon, Bendigo and McEwen to the south, and Indi to the east.
Stone, 64, has held Murray since 1996, through seven terms of parliament. She was a parliamentary secretary in the Howard government between 1998 and 2006, when she was appointed Minister for Workforce Participation. She has been overlooked for ministerial positions in the Abbott and Turnbull governments.