The Liberal party has revealed their candidates for Illawarra electorates as nominations close.
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Joining dumped MP for Holsworthy Melanie Gibbons who has nominated to be the Liberal candidate for Kiama are three untested candidates.
Joel Johnson will be take a tilt at the seat of Wollongong, the second safest for Labor in NSW. Mr Johnson is the current president of the UOW Liberal Party, an electorate officer at the office of Attorney general Mark Speakman and describes himself as a "modern liberal" on his Twitter bio.
Mikayla Barnes has nominated for Anna Watson's seat of Shellharbour. Ms Barnes is a former president of the UOW Liberal Club and currently works as a part-time marketing and public relations coordinator, according to her LinkedIn profile.
In the running for Keira is Noah Shipp, who as a Year 12 student was part of the Bulli High School leadership team in 2022.
Gibbons was the party's only candidate to nominate to take on incumbent, onetime Liberal, now independent Gareth Ward in the March 25 state election.
Mr Ward was suspended from parliament in March last year, after being charged with historical sex assault offences - which he has vehemently denied.
It is understood the party's state executive voted on Gibbons' nomination on Tuesday night, just hours before nominations officially close with the NSW Electoral Commission at 11am today.
Ms Gibbons, who is the incumbent at Holsworthy and who has represented the party there since 2011, failed to win preselection to recontest the seat in November, last year.
At this stage it makes the seat of Kiama a three-way race between Mr Ward and Labor candidate Kaitlin McInerney.
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