Gungahlin activist Alan Kerlin has broken his silence on his tilt for preselection for the ACT Greens' ticket for Molonglo.
Mr Kerlin wrote on his blog yesterday he wanted to help the two Greens incumbents in the Molonglo electorate, Shane Rattenbury and Caroline Le Couteur, to get re-elected when Canberra votes in October. But the former Democrat did not reveal if he was challenging the two sitting MLAs for their ''lead candidate'' positions on the Greens ticket.
''I believe that the Greens can retain their current number of seats in the Assembly,'' Mr Kerlin wrote.
''But it will need a strong flow of primary votes.
''That's where I can help.''
Under Greens' preselection rules, a prospective candidate can nominate for lead candidate status or settle for the role of ''support candidate''.
The party's local leadership has refused to disclose how many hopefuls are vying for preselection.
But it emerged yesterday that Mr Kerlin was one of 10 prospective candidates, making it clear the cross-bench party will run a limited ticket in October.
Mr Kerlin, who declined to be interviewed on Monday, praised the contributions of Mr Rattenbury and Ms Le Couteur.
He also criticised the coverage of the Greens in the media.
''Perhaps they are so used to watching the way some people in the old parties behave that they simply can't get their heads around a totally different modus operandi?'' Mr Kerlin wrote.
''It seems that even now, some corners of the media just don't 'get' the Greens.''
This reporter is on Twitter: @noeltowell
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