Five vie for McLelland's Barton seat FIVE candidates will vie for Labor preselection in the NSW federal seat being vacated by former minister Robert McClelland. Rockdale mayor Shane O'Brien and former political adviser Kirsten Andrews are expected to poll strongly in the 271-member ballot for Barton to be held on Saturday. Others in the running include former Hurstville mayor Steve McMahon, Electrical Trades Union national industrial officer Matt Murphy and secretary of the Barton federal electoral council, George Perivolarellis. Labor holds Barton with a margin of 6.9 per cent and believes it can retain the seat despite an expected swing across NSW to the Liberals in the upcoming September federal election. Mr O'Brien told AAP the federal ALP had a communication problem, but the policy mix was sound. "If you look at the policy prescriptions a lot of them are on the money, but it's a matter of making people understand them," he said on Tuesday. You have the opposition running around saying ... 'Parents, we don't trust you to spend $400 of back-to-school money'. Mr McClelland, a former attorney-general and experienced barrister, will retire at the September 14 election. He recently missed out on filling a vacancy on the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. Kogarah mayor and accountant Nick Varvaris has been endorsed as the Liberal candidate in the seat.