Last year I stood as an independent candidate in the federal Seat of Indi – now famous for the outstanding win by another independent, Cathy McGowan, over the three-term incumbent Sophie Mirabella. Much has already been said and written about that. The experience of standing as a candidate was at once exhilarating and heartbreaking, but […]
The party’s no fun anymore: @hiroyasugita study tour on Australian independents
April 4, 2014
Just one week in late March 2014 exposed how farcical Tony Abbott’s ‘government of adults’ is. Supposedly consummate professional political operator, Arthur Sinodinos, proved to be naïve at best, greedy at worst, for not realising the dodgy company structure which had shadowy figure of Eddie Obeid lurking behind it. Then a supposedly moderate Attorney-General proposed […]
New Politics, New Media: On-the-ground #MarchinMarch reporting by citizen journalist @jansant
March 22, 2014
By Wayne Jansson @jansant 20th March 2014 It’s normal to start a story at the beginning. I’m going to start smack bang in the middle with this one, as it sums up one of the many factors which forced 100,000 plus people to MarchInMarch (MiM) around Australia. I say forced intentionally. People don’t take to the streets in […]
Walking the Independent path with Janet Mays: @burgewords reports
January 15, 2014
The first political piece I ever wrote was also the first scoop I ever got. I was a resident of the Blue Mountains for thirty years, give or take my years at university and a six-year stint in the United Kingdom. By the time Blue Mountains City Councillor Janet Mays stood for the NSW State […]
Ordinary people speaking with an extraordinary voice @MargaretOConno5 reports
December 13, 2013
By Margaret O’Connor @MargaretOConno5 13 December 2013 It’s Monday December 2 and thirty degrees. The nation’s capital is sliding into a languorous warm late afternoon. I trundle into the Parliament House car park and try, with difficulty, to find a park, because northeast Victoria has come to town. Inside the House of Representatives Chamber, the […]
Reporting Indi: A reflection by Margo Kingston
December 2, 2013
[clear] By Margo Kingston, 1 December 2013 I take the Gold Coast train to Brisbane airport, the plane to Melbourne, the sky bus to Southern Cross Station, the train to Seymour, and the bus to Wangaratta train station. Wayne Jansson leads me to his battered old car and drives me to the hamlet of St James. […]
Sal Kimber on singing the @voiceforindi song, and getting Paul Kelly’s OK
September 20, 2013
[clear] Sheila’s editor and No Fibs columnist Sarah Capper interviews Sal Kimber, who re-wrote and sang From Little Things Big Things Grow for Cathy McGowan’s campaign launch. Sarah was at the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre where Sal performed on election night, during which swings going against the tide of the rest of the country increasingly showed […]
The intellectual grunt behind @Indigocathy Indi victory: @sarah_capper report
September 20, 2013
Image by No Fibs citizen journalist Wayne Jansson taken on election night, of Alana Johnson, Cathy McGowan and Mary Crooks.By Sarah Capper Sheila’s editor 20 September 2013 When Jeff Kennett lost the “unlosable” Victorian election in 1999, the Victorian Women’s Trust’s Mary Crooks wasn’t overly surprised. In the years leading up the state poll, in her […]
McGowan to apologise to Indi Aborigines: Transcript of her victory press conference
September 19, 2013
Margo: So it’s the end of the beginning for the member for Indi Cathy McGowan. Wayne Jansson has kindly transcribed her answers to reporters’ questions at yesterday’s victory press conference. McGowan announced that she would end the hurt created by Ms Mirabella’s boycott of the Stolen Generations apology by making a formal apology on behalf of Indi next Sorry Day. Wayne discovered […]
Cathy McGowan’s female indie MP predecessor Doris Blackburn
September 18, 2013
[clear] By Dr Robin Tennant-Wood 18 September 2013 With the news that Sophie Mirabella has conceded defeat to Independent Cathy McGowan in the seat of Indi, the electoral book has closed on one of the most closely watched head-to-head contests in an otherwise lacklustre election. The election of a high profile woman as an Independent MP […]
