McGowan declines to confirm retirement plans but says preselection outcome will help her decide about her future

Voices 4 Indi, the community group that launched Cathy McGowan’s political career, has called for expressions of interest for a new candidate for the seat, fuelling speculation that the key crossbencher could step down at the next election.

In an unprecedented community political process, Voices 4 Indi has invited about 550 registered campaign volunteers to a 12 January meeting in Benalla to determine a “succession process”.

But McGowan, who turned 65 this week, would not confirm any retirement plans, saying onlythat the outcome of the preselection would help her make a decision about her future.

It is understood any future candidate selected in the process would step up when McGowan decided to retire or if she lost the seat. This would not necessarily be at the 2019 election.

In a statement, McGowan welcomed Voices 4 Indi’s announcement.

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“I have previously given my support to succession planning in Indi and I welcome the process led by Voices 4 Indi,” she said.

“I encourage those with an interest in politics to put their hand up in response. I look forward to being part of the process undertaken by Voices 4 Indi. I expect the outcome will assist my decision about the future.”

Voices 4 Indi ran advertisements in the Indi electorate newspapers on Friday. It’s a seat McGowan won from the former Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella in 2013, and was the only seat lost by the Coalition when Tony Abbott’s government came to office.

Voices for Indi describes itself as a community group rather than a political party, although it ran a preselection process in 2013 before McGowan was picked as a candidate.

It is not registered as a political party with the Australian Electoral Commission. All volunteers have to sign a “values statement” to be registered.

Voices 4 Indi spokeswoman Alana Johnson said that “Team Orange” volunteers enrolled to vote in Indi had overwhelmingly endorsed the process in a survey. She said they included people from all walks of life, with a range of political persuasions, including those from the right and left of politics.

Registered supporters who attend the forum will hear speeches and could get to choose a future independent candidate, although Johnson said there had been interest in a deliberative process that might not need a vote.

“Someone could take part who decides at the forum that another candidate would be better and they might step out of the process,” Johnson said. “This is the process of deliberative consensus decision making.”

If McGowan does resign and another independent runs, the Liberal and National parties would run a three-cornered contest in the 28,000-square-kilometre Victorian seat.

It was recently reported that senator Bridget McKenzie, the Nationals deputy leader and minister, would move her office 300km from Bendigo to Wodonga, placing her in the seat of Indi. There has long been speculation that McKenzie was interested in a lower house seat as well as the leadership of the National party.

McGowan has led the push from the crossbench for a national integrity commission, designing a bill with legal experts and judges that would enshrine a parliamentary commissioner and an anti-corruption body.

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After Labor supported the crossbench bill, the minority Coalition government was forced to support a new body in principle to stop an embarrassing defeat on the floor of the parliament on its first day in minority government, given that some of the government MPs could have supported the bill.

The crossbenchers have also raised other demands with the Coalition government during a meeting with the government leader in the house, Christopher Pyne, on Thursday.

The Wentworth independent Kerryn Phelps is bringing forward a private member’s bill to bring children of asylum seekers and sick detainees to Australia, and Andrew Wilkie is pushing to ban the live export animal trade.

Johnson said the forum would be a new process that would take the focus away from the model of high-profile independents to a community-generated candidate who might be a “train driver or a teacher”.

“Unlike all the independent candidates popping up under their own identity, the candidate is not what this is about,” Johnson said.

“This is a community finding a way to bring forth someone they want to represent them. It’s a community-generated process, not a matter of a terrific candidate stepping forward.

“We have seen the rise of individual characters who can capture voters or interest whereas we are trying to embed a process that community brings forth candidate on understanding they will represent the community.”