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By Wayne Jansson<\/a>,<\/p>\n 7 August, 2013<\/p>\n Now that the election has been called, it’s time to give my first seat update on Indi<\/a>. The campaign period wasn’t even a day old when the first shock came through – independent candidate Alan Lappin pulled out after suffering a heart attack. Alan received 5.84% of the primary vote in 2010 and was widely tipped to improve on that this year.<\/p>\n Voice for Indi<\/a> candidate Cathy McGowan<\/a>, with a bit of blind luck, held her campaign launch at The Cube in Wodonga on the same day the election was called. The Border Mail<\/span><\/a> reported that more than 400 people attended. It is being reported locally that she supports the ALP’s NBN, however in our NoFibs Interview<\/a> she stated that “neither of the parties, neither of the programs… seem to be able to deliver for the people living in Indi”.<\/p>\n Communications is one of the main platforms Cathy is running on. But there is very little information in her broadband policy<\/a> about how she intends to solves the issues of connectivity for large areas of Indi, which for many will remain even with the NBN.<\/p>\n McGowan has also released her health policy<\/a>, which throws up another inconsistency from our interview. The policy states that there are “problems getting in to see a GP and affording co-payments”, but when I asked her about a lack of health professionals during our interview she didn’t see it as an issue. I’m wondering why Cathy thinks people have to wait so long in some areas to see a GP if it\u2019s not because of a lack of GPs, especially bulk-billing GPs. Hopefully I can get some clarity on these issues over the next few days.<\/p>\n Tony Windsor (@TonyWindsorMP<\/a>) who famously gave Sophie Mirabella (@SMirabellaMP<\/a>) the nasty prize on ABC’s Insiders<\/a>, also indicated he’d like to help McGowan’s campaign in Indi. I emailed Tony Windsor on Tuesday asking if he plans to do so – as yet I’ve not had a reply.<\/p>\n According to her campaign launch highlights video<\/span><\/a>, McGowan will be releasing policies soon on transport, education, aged care, agriculture and food.<\/p>\n Lee Luvara of Katters Australian Party<\/span><\/a> has pulled out of the race, and a replacement is to be announced soon.<\/p>\n The Australian Sex Party<\/a> is running Helma Aschenbrenner, who I’ll try to catch up with soon. Helma’s Facebook page is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The current member for Indi Sophie Mirabella<\/a> has been notably absent at the recent candidates forums, and in general, so much so that The Border Mail ran a story and a poll<\/a> about her absence. The poll asked: \u201cDo you think Sophie Mirabella has a good enough excuse not to attend a Q&A with the other Indi candidates?\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n A whopping 92.4% answered \u201cNo, if she wants to win votes she should be there to answer to voters.\u201d<\/p>\n I have been told by one of her opponents that she has committed to attending the next forum. I discovered via Twitter<\/a> yesterday that she was in Indi on 26th July with Malcolm Turnbull<\/a> (@TurnbullMalcolm<\/a>) discussing the Liberal<\/a> plans for broadband. Perhaps Sophie is slowly waking up to the fact that Indi could be a sleeper. My bet is its no coincidence Malcolm was in town given one of McGowan’s main platforms is broadband and mobile access.<\/p>\n The ALP’s Indi Campaign Manager tweets:<\/p>\n Mirabella's campaign focus reportedly purely on McGowan. #indivotes<\/a><\/p>\n — Zuvele Leschen (@ZuveleLeschen) August 7, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n