Parramatta Eels CEO Paul Osborne. PICTURE: GREGG PORTEOUS
THE Liberal Party has failed to woo high-profile Eels chief Paul Osborne to run in the state seat of Parramatta to wrest it from Labor’s Tanya Gadiel.
Despite the massive 25 per cent swing against Labor in Penrith’s by-election on Saturday buoying their hopes in all western Sydney seats, Liberal Party powerbrokers feel a well-known candidate is their best chance in Parramatta.
But Mr Osborne, a former ACT politician who became Eels chief executive last year, said “thanks but no thanks” to the offer which was first put to him a few months ago.
“I was flattered but I am happy in my present job - most of the time,” he told the Advertiser.
“My political days are over.”
Mr Osborne was an independent MP in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 2001. The father-of-nine lives in the Hills district and is well-liked in Parramatta as the chief who turned the Eels’ fortunes around to deliver them to the NRL grand final last year.
http://parramatta-advertiser.whereilive.com.au/news/story/parramatta-eels-paul-osborne-shuns-libs/
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