The people of Indi have overwhelmingly voted to return Independent incumbent member Helen Haines to parliament.
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While Dr Haines had to rely on preferences three years ago, on Tuesday morning, with 74.74 per cent of votes counted, she was sitting at 40.96 per cent.
Her nearest rival, Liberal Ross Lyman, has claimed 31.04 per cent of the vote.
The result shows a 7.31 per cent swing to Dr Haines who now holds the seat by a margin of 8.7 per cent.
Nationally, the election saw the Liberals capitulate, with former safe seats across the country falling to independents.
Labor’s primary vote was also affected, with its numbers way down. However, it did get enough seats to form government.
While the country waits to see if Labor can get to a majority, Dr Haines said that, either way, she would work with the government for the good of the electorate.
“I’ve demonstrated in the past I can work with whoever is in government and I will hold Labor to account the same as I did with the Liberals,” Dr Haines said.
“I’ve had a call this morning from the Prime Minister who made it clear to me that he wants a strong and collaborative relationship with the crossbench.
“I’ll be working with great purpose with the government, whether they are in a minority or majority.”
Dr Haines said her number one priority this term was to get an integrity commission established.
“This has been a major platform for me throughout the last parliament,” she said.
Dr Haines pointed to the fact she has already submitted a Federal Integrity Commission bill to parliament.
“When I spoke to the Prime Minister this morning, I made it clear that is a priority,” she said.
“The next thing I will be looking at is regional and rural healthcare.
“We need better access and better infrastructure. I made that clear to the Prime Minister as well.”
Dr Haines said other priorities she would take to Canberra this term would be addressing regional telecommunications and action on climate change.
“We absolutely must address climate change,” she said.
“The people of Indi have worked closely with me on regional approaches in the past three years.
“The community energy (initiatives) I have worked on have brought $7 million into the electorate.
“In Benalla, the community energy groups (Renewable Energy Benalla and Benalla Sustainable Future Group) have been helping to put solar on to local kindergartens.
“And we’ve been working on better access to community batteries.
“But there are local and national approaches to this.”
Dr Haines said she had already put forward legislation on addressing climate change and she was looking to work with farmers to help them achieve net zero emissions.
This election has seen a shift away from traditional voting patterns, with independents and minor parties gaining seats in numbers never seen before.
“The people of Australia have been very clear,” Dr Haines said.
“They are sick of the games the major parties play and tired of corruption.
“The integrity issue is one I think this parliament can fix. People tell me how important that is to them every day.
“Locally, I think what this result says is the people of Indi really like having a strong independent federal member that they know will represent them in parliament.
"I will fight for them every day. I will be taking direction from the people, not a party boss.
“We’ve now seen four elections in Indi where an Independent member has been elected. And to win with such an increased margin gives me confidence to maintain this approach and I’m delighted about that.
“I think nationally other electorates have seen what it means to have an independent member and they wanted that too.
“We’ve seen something extraordinary at this election. Parliament is moving to a way of doing politics that’s more respectful and more aligned with the values of each electorate.
"It’s about ideas and solutions, not about party ideologies. It is a great day for Australia to have such an expanded crossbench.“
Dr Haines said she was humbled to be re-elected.
“I would like to thank the people of Indi for having confidence in me and re-electing me,” she said.
“My promise to them is I will work hard every day to make sure their voices are heard in Canberra.
“I will champion them every day and I am very proud to be elected for a second term.”
The majority of voters in Benalla had already voted at pre-polling before election day, with some 6589 people voting at the town hall.
On Saturday, a further 1514 people voted at Benalla’s polling place on Faithfull St.
Benalla | Indi |
Helen Haines (Independent): 2755 | Helen Haines (Independent): 34,019 |
Ross Lyman (Liberal): 2365 | Ross Lyman (Liberals): 25,708 |
Nadia David (Labor): 759 | Nadia David (Labor): 7008 |
Liz Fisher (Nationals): 580 | Beth Stevens (One Nation): 4364 |
Beth Stevens (One Nation): 476 | Liz Fisher (Nationals): 3230 |
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