{"id":39204,"date":"2018-10-14T19:43:16","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T08:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=39204"},"modified":"2022-05-02T12:29:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T02:29:01","slug":"rusted-off-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-indie-jansant-comments-wentworthvotes-auspol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/rusted-off-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-indie-jansant-comments-wentworthvotes-auspol\/","title":{"rendered":"Rusted off or how I learned to stop worrying and love the indie: @jansant comments #WentworthVotes #auspol"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Independent candidate for Wentworth, Kerryn Phelps. Photo: candidate website<\/p><\/div>\n

You could say I’ve been pretty loud in the #WentworthVotes hashtag and you’d be right. Here’s why.<\/p>\n

In 2013 I was convinced (maybe easily) by a few Twitter accounts I banter with in #auspol to contribute to Margo Kingston’s No Fibs<\/em> Federal election coverage. A project\/experiment with citizens reporting from the seats they lived in: or grassroots ‘off the bus’ election coverage as Margo described it.<\/p>\n

It seemed a fun interesting thing to do even though I had no idea how to cover an election. By the end I’d had an insiders view of a local campaign of national significance which changed forever how I think about candidates, party’s and election campaigning.<\/p>\n

Figuring the best first step was to meet and talk to the candidates, I arranged interviews and portraits with those I thought may influence the outcome in some way. Only the Liberal declined.<\/p>\n

Everyone was offered the same questions without notice and all interviews were completed before any were published. I thought it was a good way to reassure candidates who didn’t know me (or knew of me from #auspol) they were on a level playing field.<\/p>\n

The Lib candidate didn’t exactly decline, their office kept saying they’d get it together and let me know. Eventually, we took the hint the Lib had no intention of getting it together and we published what we had.<\/p>\n

My seat was a blue ribbon rural Lib stronghold of a power player from the far right, with expectations of a Ministry in an incoming Abbott government: it was gonna take something special for it to change hands.<\/p>\n

The interviews gave notable impressions about some of the candidates.<\/p>\n