Mr Nelson was in Gippsland to officially lauch the campaign of Liberal contender, Rohan Fitzgerald, and said "times change" and his party believed it could win a seat from The Nationals, whose member, Peter McGauran, is quitting after 24 years in politics.

"It’s obvious, if you look at the last 80 years, Australia has changed enormously and people that are living in regional parts of the country and in rural communities have the same aspirations and desires for their families, their business and their children as do anybody else," Mr Nelson told local media today.

"And the Liberal Party is obviously the largest of the two non-Labor parties.

"Our fundamental beliefs are in supporting individuals, encouragement of and reward for hard work and self-sacrifice.

"We believe very strongly in small businesses. We’ve got strong representation across Australian regional and rural communities and, also, the most important thing is we’ve got a fantastic candidate."

Mr Nelson said it was certainly a winnable seat, despite its strong Country and National party history.

"...of course we haven’t run previously because under the agreements we have with our National Party friends and colleagues we don’t run a candidate unless there’s a retirement," Mr Nelson said.

"We now have a retirement and as I say things have changed and it’s time for us to run, and we’ll be putting up a very strong fight. I can assure you.

Mr Nelson said the contest between the two parties in the seat did point to the need for a merger.

"Well it’s well known that I’ve said publicly that we should be looking nationally, federally I should say, at a merger of the two parties.

"There’s some work being done on that. But there are people who want to support the Liberal Party who want to see a Liberal candidate and we will be running a very effective campaign here."

SOURCE: Rural Press National News Service, Parliament House Bureau, Canberra.