Former Tiger Scott Turner puts hands up for state seat of Ripon
March 30, 2014
Darren Gray
It has been 15 years since he last played for Richmond, he admits that his knees are no longer what they used to be and soon he will celebrate his 44th birthday.
Yet Scott Turner, a former Richmond defender who lined up in the 1990s against some of the best players in AFL history - including Gary Ablett (senior), Tony Lockett and Jason Dunstall - has been recruited again.
The father of two, now the HR manager at a large manufacturing company in Ararat, will run for parliament in this year's state election for the Nationals in the seat of Ripon.Mr Turner, who was born and raised in Ararat and returned a few years ago with his family, is running for a country seat that could be crucial to the election outcome. Labor's Joe Helper has held the seat for 15 years, but is retiring at the election and the Coalition hopes to seize it. Ripon is the most rural seat held by Labor in Victoria, and has been held for long stints by Labor and the conservative parties.
Given the Coalition has only a one-seat majority in Parliament, seats such as Ripon with relatively tight margins will be key battlegrounds. The Liberals have preselected Louise Staley, while Labor has preselected Daniel McGlone.
Perhaps not surprisingly it was another former footballer who made the bid to draft Mr Turner for the Nationals. Former Sport and Veterans Affairs minister Hugh Delahunty, a 46-game Essendon player in the 1970s, invited Mr Turner for a catch-up at a restaurant in Ararat.
Mr Turner says Mr Delahunty's recruiting drive ''came out of the blue'', but after thinking about it for a couple of weeks he decided to run. ''He said they'd spoken about me and done their homework on me and they think that I'm the right person for the role,'' he says.
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