Barnaby Joyce might be expected to easily retain the seat of New England at the December 2 by-election, but he will have several challengers.
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Labor, The Greens, an independent and other minor parties look like they will all stand for the seat, although former New England MP Tony Windsor announced on Friday that he would not be standing in the by-election, and One Nation looks unlikely to run a candidate, focusing instead on the Queensland election called on Sunday.
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Armidale independent Rob Taber confirmed he would run, saying he decided to nominate after Mr Windsor said he would not be standing.
Mr Taber has stood at the last two elections, but he was critical of Mr Windsor last year, saying he would not have stood in the 2016 election if he knew Mr Windsor was also running as an independent.
Former Western Australian Liberal MP, Ian Britza, announced last week that he would run for the Australian Country Party in the by-election.
Mercurius Goldstein from The Greens said he would not be standing due to work commitments, but said the party had more than one possible candidate, and they would make an announcement later this week.
Labor has already declared it will run and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party is considering standing a candidate too.
At the last election, David Mailler ran for the seat as the candidate for his fledgling party, CountryMinded, but he said on Sunday he would not be standing this time.