While no official comment is forthcoming from the party’s state headquarters or sitting MP Pru Goward’s office, the Goulburn Post understands it will be Wendy Tuckerman.

Ms Tuckerman is a former Boorowa mayor and administrator of its amalgamated successor, Hilltops Council.

She previously chaired the Canberra Joint Regional Organisation of Councils, and sat on the boards of Regional Development Australia Southern Inland and the Rural Assistance Authority. Ms Tuckerman was also an Australian Federal Police investigator for 14 years to 1997. She has not returned the Post’s calls.

However, a formal endorsement process has yet to take place.

The choice is likely to inflame internal Liberal Party tensions, with members Geoff Kettle and Richard Orchard arguing a well-known Goulburn candidate must be chosen if the Libs are to have a chance in the seat. Mr Kettle argued Ms Tuckerman was not known in this area, and postulated he’d run as an independent. 

Meantime, speaking before any hint of a Liberal announcement, the chairman of The Nationals’ State Electoral Council for Goulburn, James Harker-Mortlock, said he’d be pushing his state headquarters to field a candidate in the seat. His statement came just weeks after saying the party was unlikely to do so at this election, but would seriously consider it at the next poll.

He said the Goulburn branch had passed a motion three to four months ago to field a nominee in the electorate, but let it sit given the arrangement with the Liberals before the election.

“(But) given what can only be described as the irresponsible attitude of the Liberals to the urgent need to field a person, I as chairman will be taking this up with The Nationals’ central executive and central council to revisit that decision,” he said.

But a spokesman for the party’s state director, Ross Cadell, dismissed the idea.

“The party’s governing body resolved last year to endorse the coalition agreement that states that the Liberals would be running in the seat of the Goulburn. The party supports that agreement,” he said.

“The Liberals have their own processes and this is a matter for them.”

Mr Harker-Mortlock said he heeded former Burrinjuck MP Katrina Hodgkinson’s advice in December that the Nats should run a candidate, but the SEC “had backed off for the Liberals”.

But now he wanted to send a message that The Nationals were interested in the electorate’s problems and issues.

He did not rule out a three-cornered contest, with both the Liberals and Nationals running.

“My concern is that unless the Coalition gets at least one or possibly two candidates in the field as soon as possible, then Coalition votes will disappear to minor parties such as One Nation and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, the consequence being that the ALP may well win the seat of Goulburn,” Mr Harker-Mortlock said.

The Nationals are also running a candidate in Eden-Monaro at this year’s federal election. Sophie Wade will go up against the Liberals’ Dr Fiona Kotvojs and re-nominating Labor MP Dr Mike Kelly.

In 2014, Ms Hodgkinson, then Burrinjuck MP, announced she would take on the Liberals’ Pru Goward for the seat of Goulburn at the 2015 election. At the time, she was facing Burrinjuck’s redistribution into the seat of Cootamundra. However, she pulled out of the Goulburn contest following a backlash from the Liberals and reportedly under threat of losing her Primary Industries portfolio.

Mr Harker-Mortlock conceded that state headquarters might not necessarily agree with the Goulburn SEC’s push. If it did, normally there would be a call for nominations over 21 days, followed by a meeting not less than 28 days later to choose the candidate. But he believed this process could be expedited.

“Our message to the electorate is we’re very concerned about the situation and don’t think we’ve forgotten about you,” Mr Harker-Mortlock said.