Tenterfield Nationals stalwarts and senators Barnaby Joyce and John Williams helped Mr Marshall officially open his Tenterfield campaign office on Monday.

Mr Marshall was pre-selected by the party to run in this month’s Northern Tablelands by-election which will take place on May 25.

He spent the early part of this week travelling the shire to speak with locals as well as the party faithful.

Opening the meeting was a “matriarch of the party”, Val Gardiner, as Senator John Williams referred to her.

Mayor Peter Petty welcomed Mr Marshall before Senator Barnaby Joyce spoke on the necessity of electing someone who “is a smart and capable candidate”.

Senator Joyce, who is in the midst of his own election campaign, said it was “vital Adam wins”.

“He is a great candidate, I honestly think he’s the red hot favourite,” Senator Joyce said.

“We’re up against a Greens-Labor government who are the worst ever, they’ve outdone Gough Whitlam,” he said.

“They have taken to prostituting our nation out.

“I [have yet to talk to] someone who would want the Gillard, Swan, Windsor government to stay in.”

He officially opened the office and cut the string of the balloons he said “symbolised” Mr Marshall’s career as “moving up”.

Mr Marshall said the byelection was critical in the lead up to the federal election.

“It’s a strong field of candidates and I will need to prove to people that we are the right party and I’m the right person.

“Health issues are pertinent in this region as are maternity services. It’s critical we do what we can to keep roads like the Bruxner Highway and Bolivia Hill safe,” he said.

Mr Marshall said he was not in favour of a local council amalgamation.

“It would be erroneous and ridiculous to amalgamate Tenterfield with Glen Innes,” he said.

“We need to keep local councils local as it would be a recipe for disaster.”

Federal candidate and current Member for New England Mr Windsor also spent time in Tenterfield, visiting last week before trekking out to the outer regions of the shire.

Mr Windsor threw his weight behind the Mt Lindesay Road upgrade.

“I’m here in town to show my support for the upgrade with a view to try and push through the funding,” Mr Windsor said.

He said the upgrade was a vital phase in the shire’s development.

“While council are responsible, they would never have the budget,” he said.

Tenterfield Shire mayor Peter Petty travelled with Mr Windsor to Liston and Legume.

Council has reached round four in the funding process, having lodged an application with the Regional Development Australia Fund.

Grant money between $500,000 and $15 million will be available to eligible applicants, but with competition fierce in obtaining the money, Cr Petty said they would just have to wait and see whether they had been successful.

“We’ll have to wait until June to receive any feedback, but Mr Windsor said the proposal ticked all the boxes and was very positive about it,” Cr Petty said.

“It would be the best thing to happen in the area for a hundred years if it happened.”

With the total cost of the project likely to be more than $15 million, money would need to be found from elsewhere.

“We would use the $15 million and would have to borrow a further $2 million to get the road up to standard,” Cr Petty said.

Despite being in the midst of an election year, Mr Windsor said he wasn’t travelling around on the campaign trail, but rather going about his duties as normal.

“I’m not campaigning, we are currently in a hung parliament and I don’t want to miss a moment to get things done,” Mr Windsor said.

“But I guess you are always in campaign mode in some way.

“It’s not often a country member is in the balance of power and there is lots to be done now,” he said.

“I’m happy to be up here paying a visit and travelling out to Liston and Legume – it’s beautiful country out there.”

Cr Petty said given the cost of the project, he and Mr Windsor would look to neighbouring shires for support.

“Forty-four kilometres of the road is in our shire but it’s a road that links to other shire’s in the scenic rim and they might see this as an important project as well,” he said.

In spite of traversing the far reaches of Tenterfield Shire last Tuesday, Mr Windsor spent the evening dining with mining magnate Clive Palmer in Glen Innes.

Mr Palmer contacted Mr Windsor in the hope of drawing him across to his new party, the United Australia Party but was rebuffed in his proposals.

“I made it pretty clear I wasn’t interested in that, but I wished him well,” Mr Windsor said.

“He’s very passionate about Australia and where it is and where it’s going and he’s quite serious about his new political party

“We have a fair bit of common ground, there are a few issues we agree on and a few we don’t. I’ve never met him before but he’s quite an interesting bloke.”