Independents including Cathy McGowan, Tony Windsor and Andrew Wilkie have reported a surge in interest in running community campaigns to challenge major party politics.



The wave of political interest in the Indi independent McGowan, who toppled the Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella, has inspired a summit to share their campaign secrets with local communities.

The former New England independent Tony Windsor said he had been inundated with calls to either re-enter politics or assist others to run against the major party candidates.

McGowan’s candidacy rose out of a group called Voice for Indi, which was created as a result of dissatisfaction with Australia’s political process and lack of engagement. Its campaign, which was modelled on community engagement, meant Mirabella lost her safe regional Victorian seat at the federal election, despite a margin of 9%.

Since that time Voice for Indi has had a stream of inquiries from potential candidates and community groups looking to get organised.

As a result, Voice for Indi has set up a summit called Indi Shares on June 14 in the electorate to explain its winning campaign and political engagement strategy.

Voice of Indi’s president, Alana Johnson, said while her organisation wanted to remain focused on the seat of Indi, it had decided to organise the information sharing in response to the large number of inquiries. Johnson said everyone was welcome, including major party candidates.

Windsor said in more than 20 years in politics, he had never seen “middle-ground” voters so disillusioned with politics.

Inquiries to Windsor centred on two requests: to run as a candidate again or to run “schools” or write a “how-to” manual for candidates and community groups who want to change politics. Windsor was an independent in the New South Wales and federal parliaments and held the balance of power in both.

“The central message they put to me is let’s clean up NSW,” he said. “That could relate to mining licences, party politics, union corruption. It means different things to different people.

“Particularly with the evidence before the Independent Commission Against Corruption, there is a feeling that both sides are rotten, they don’t trust the politicians or the process.”

Windsor said while there was a general feeling that NSW Labor was corrupt, the resignation of Barry O’Farrell shocked the most conservative people. He said he retained a high regard for the former premier.

“I am not saying this about Barry but there is a feeling that both sides can be bought, which is why the possibility of a third player is so dangerous. Whether it’s country or city, people do not like the fact that money is everything and that business can influence activity in their favour.”

Windsor said in rural and regional Australia, social media had connected many people who previously felt disillusioned in isolation. This was particularly the case on coal-seam gas and general mining issues.

“I say to them let’s wait and see where the state and federal governments go with this but people have less and less faith that they will clean up the mess left behind by disgraced powerbroker Eddie Obeid and former Labor minister Ian Macdonald.”

Windsor said the capacity for independents to succeed was reasonable and suggested candidates required only 26% to 27% of the primary vote to win a seat, given preference flows. McGowan won Indi with a primary vote of 31%.

“You have to have a candidate who is there for the right reasons and a team of around 50 people who are committed,” Windsor said.

“McGowan had the community group Voice for Indi which tried to work with Mirabella and only found a candidate when they had been told Mirabella was not interested.

“The main thing is nothing is irreversible. In my lifetime I thought apartheid, or the Berlin Wall or communism in Russia could never be changed. It’s up to the people. If it catches fire, it can happen.”

Wilkie, the Denison independent, said in the time he had been an independent, he had been approached by numerous people who wanted to understand the elements of a successful independent campaign.

“Right at the moment I am encountering a lot of unrest and discontent,” Wilkie said. “Mine is a notional Labor seat so you expect some element of discontent with the government but they are also unhappy with Labor.”

Johnson said Indi Shares would cover the elements of the campaign that Voice for Indi used to engage people politically, including social media and grassroots engagement.

“We don’t want to get distracted by running other people’s campaigns, we remained focused on Indi because we have things we have to achieve here,” she said.

“But since people have asked we do want to spread the feeling of inclusion and we are planning for Indi Shares to be focused on doing democracy and how people can include that in their everyday lives beyond writing a letter to the editor or writing to a local member.”

Johnson said her group had noticed an upswing in activist groups on a whole range of issues and that calls for help included how to change candidates, how to organise on a particular issue or how to engage in the political process.

“It is about how you do democracy and if we value democracy, what does it mean and how do we do it better,” she said.

Johnson said Voice for Indi was building relations with the local Liberal party office and invited it and Labor supporters to all its events.

“It truly belongs to people regardless of their party allegiances,” Johnson said.