|
|
|
|
| Australian federal election, 2016
Division of Indi, Victoria
Northern Victoria: Mansfield, Benalla, Wangaratta, Wodonga
Sitting member: Cathy McGowan (Independent), elected 2013
Enrolment at close of rolls: 103,784
2013 Independent majority over Liberal: 0.3%
|
Candidates in ballot-paper order:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
1. Alan Lappin
Independent |
2. Sophie Mirabella
Liberal Party |
3. Jenny O'Connor
Australian Greens |
4. Tim Quilty
Liberal Democratic Party |
5. Cathy McGowan
Independent |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
6. Eric Kerr
Australian Labor Party |
7. Ray Dyer
Independent |
8. Marty Corboy
The Nationals |
9. Dr Julian Fidge
Country Party |
10. Vincent Ferrando
Rise Up Australia |
2013 results
Statistics and history
Indi has existed since Federation, and has always occupied the north- eastern corner of Victoria. Like all rural seats, it has a low level of median
family income and a low proportion of people born in non English speaking countries. Its proportion of people in professional occupations is higher
than in most rural seats, while it also has a high proportion engaged in agriculture. Labor has not won Indi since 1929, and although there are pockets
of Labor support, the main centres, Wangaratta, Wodonga and Benalla, vote heavily Liberal. The National Party used to win the seat on occasions, and was
a threat until the 1980s, but since then it has faded away in this region.
Sophie Panopoulos (now Sophie Mirabella) won Indi for the Liberals in 2001. Panopoulos, a Melbourne lawyer and the daughter of Greek immigrants, was an
outsider when she ran for Liberal selection, and although she held Indi easily at four elections, she never really succeeded in gaining acceptance in the
area, a problem compounded by her aggressive political style and regular brushes with controversy. She was on the opposition frontbench from 2007 onwards,
and would have been a Cabinet minister in the Abbott Government. Instead in 2013 she was unexpectedly defeated by Cathy McGowan, an independent candidate
said to be backed by the Nationals.
Cathy McGowan, independent MP for Indi since 2013, was a teacher and then a staffer for an earlier Liberal MP for Indi, Ewen Cameron. Later she worked for
the state Department of Agriculture and then ran her own rural affairs consultancy. She was made an AO in 2004.
Mirabella is again running for Indi in 2016. But experience shows that independent members in country seats are hard to dislodge. With the electoral tide
apparently flowing against the Liberal Party, McGowan is favoured to retain this seat.
These maps are the property of Adam Carr and may not be reproduced without his permission.
Back to main page
Prospective pendulum, showing all candidates
State and territory maps, showing new boundaries
The thirty seats that will decide the election
Other seats of interest
|
|
|