And while the PM is on the campaign trail, the UDP standard bearer for Collet, Patrick Faber, was on Sunup on 7 this morning, discussing his work in the division that he's represented for over 2 decades. Faber is a part of the Tracy Panton faction and says that rather than try to position himself to regain the throne, he's supporting her fully as the next full time leader - since following their unity convention she was declared interim leader. Here's what he told the hosts this morning.
Patrick Faber, TP UDP Standard Bearer, Collet
"I'll be clear that nobody forced me to resign from leadership of the UDP. It is a decision that I made back in 2022 because the situation that I was in, to me, did not put the party in the best position."
"I did not wish to be an albatross around the neck of the party. And so I made a conscious decision not to continue to lead the party. And I decided back then to put my support behind the Honorable Tracy Panton."
"That was an easy decision for me. And I've said to Tracy, and I've said to everybody who would listen, that that is where my support is. And I have no intention, I'll make that very clear now, of contesting against my colleague, the Honorable Tracy Panton."
"I have full confidence in her leadership. I have full hope that she will be the first female prime minister. I have full hope that if she does not make it as the first female prime minister, that she will be the first female leader of the opposition."
"Either way, she is going to blaze a trail. She's going to make history, and I'm going to be fully in her corner. So there's no ambition on my part in that, and you can take that to the bank."
Host
"While in your division, people will see on the ballots, one blue, one red, you know, in other divisions, there are multiple reds happening. As somebody who has decades of experience, do you feel like this will confuse voters or make it harder for voters, and there'll be more spoiled ballots at the end of the day?"
Patrick Faber, TP UDP Standard Bearer, Collet
"Absolutely, the fact that, especially where there is a case where there are the two reds stack together, and this comes because of the alphabetical order in which candidates are listed. In fact, if Rivers was nominated in Collet, Faber then Rivers, given that Daley would first alphabetically would have created some confusion and I believe this is, I need to be careful of how I accuse the election on boundaries, but it is political. I believe this is why they did what they did because it favors the incumbent government, you know."
"This is going to create confusion and it's going to favor the PUP, so why not do it? But I'm thankful it is not happening in Collet, but also voter education is important and from Tracy Panton's side of the party, we are going to do the best job that we can do to educate our voters."
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