To Mrs Mirabella, who at the forum in Wodonga stated as one of her most important core values as being the protection of children, my question was “How do you reconcile your personal position on the protection of children with the policies of your party in regard to the treatment of children being held in detention centres both here in Australia and on Australia’s behalf, on Nauru and Manus Island, PNG?”

To Ms McGowan I asked in the light of her stated support for the live animal export trade and the recent damning exposes of sledge-hammering to death Australian cattle in Vietnam and the sacking of the veterinarian who reported on the shocking conditions on board the ships transporting Australian cattle, “How many voters (voices) in Indi will it take for you to change your position on this?” Both candidates have said that they welcome questions from the electorate and would answer them promptly and truthfully.

SUSSAN Ley works hard and does a good job here in Farrer but she is controlled by the Liberal Party machine, even, I feel, when she would rather make other decisions sometimes.

Indi is very fortunate to have Cathy McGowan as an Independent MP. She and her followers have achieved many positive outcomes for the electorate. Because her rivals are so concerned about her winning this election, the Coalition has announced a $10 million funding commitment for Indi road projects. Good on you Cathy, lets hope you regain office and they put in more dollars for Indi trying to unseat you.

Cathy's record shows that, to benefit Indi, she has supported legislation from both sides of Parliament. Being an independent and not under the control of a party is a plus for the Indi electorate. The Liberals are for financial security of the wealthy and Labor, being for the working Australians, are too generous, often to their detriment. Both make promises beyond the country's means.

I wrote to the PM of my concerns about the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft agreement signed by Tony Abbott. An untested aircraft costing about $160 million each, 58 of them. I have not heard any talk about defence from either major party. The Coalition government has stated that, because of Labor's spending, Australia's debt is huge. How can it justify this defence spending?

Our right to vote and being fined if one refuses is one of the tenets of Australia's electoral process which I think is a good thing. John Howard's government was substantially supported by the exclusive brethren sect. This present conservative government is also sponsored by them and yet the sect members do not vote. Why not? Do they get fined? 

IT'S funny how Cathy McGowan is now trying to distance herself from GetUp

GetUp openly campaigned for her at the last election in 2013, as they are now doing for Tony Windsor. Cathy at the last election even had all the "luvvies" from Save Our City. Cathy's record voting for Green causes has made her the poster girl for the left. Climate change, illegal refugees, big government etc Cathy wants to portray herself as an independent, just own up and say your a left winger. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, guess what?