The rural electorate of Indi will make history next week when Independent Dr Helen Haines is officially elected to replace fellow independent Cathy McGowan. Part of the reason she won was a climate platform founded on energy democracy.
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| Independent Helen Haines who officially won Indi this week after Cathy McGowan retired. |
Indi is a regional electorate in Victoria. It stretches all the way from the peri urban fringes of Melbourne to the Murray River. It is an electorate of mountains, valleys and plains. Until Cathy McGowan won in 2013, Indi had been a safe Liberal seat, delivering some of the largest margins in the country for conservative members.
Back to back independents have never been elected in Australian history. Popular independent MPs, like Tony Windsor or Rob Oakeshott have both seen their seats revert back to the Coalition.
There is a good reason for that. Once elected, independent members are popular, but most are elected on a protest vote from the former sitting member. It is very hard to run as an independent and win against a popular or at least “not-unpopular” major party candidate.
Read the story from The Guardian by Cam Klose - “Communities around Australia are taking clean energy into their own hands, the Indi win built on that.”
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