Malcolm Turnbull is due for a beer at the Beach Hotel in Burnie on Thursday night. But punters don't care about the Prime Minister. There's only one name of talk: Craig Garland.
The 54-year-old has emerged as the third force in the in Braddon byelection. Last state election, he won 2000 primary votes - the most of a minor party candidate, after an $800 campaign, just two weeks before polling day.
his time, observers say Mr Garland could net 10 per cent of the vote in the July 28 poll. That makes him a potential kingmaker in a byelection which is genuinely down to the wire.
"I've had a gutful of the major parties" Mr Garland says. "They treat the electorate as if we're brain dead, as if we don't think. And we're the biggest swingers... - we go Liberal, Labor, Liberal, Labor, Liberal, Labor."