THE election campaign when you are not having an election campaign is well and truly on in Indi.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Almost on a daily basis the candidates are vying for important media coverage to get their message across to the people who count most – the voters.
The current member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, has gone on the front foot again by inviting parliamentary secretary for infrastructure Jamie Briggs back to the area to join her for a trip on the train service between Melbourne and Wodonga.
Mr Briggs was recently in Indi alongside Liberal counterpart Sophie Mirabella to announce $1.7 million funding for an upgrade to Thomas Mitchell Drive in Wodonga.
Mrs Mirabella has been on the hustings also and on Monday night has arranged an agriculture forum in Wangaratta with another Liberal MP Richard Colbeck making the trip to Indi.
Labor's Eric Kerr and the Greens’ Jenny O'Connor are also out and about.
But the biggest mystery remains: where is the National Party if, as it has repeatedly stated, it is serious about reclaiming Indi?
The Nationals have had to wait since 2001 to have a chance of winning the seat and should have been one of the first into the Indi battlefield.
The Nationals have now suffered another blow of sorts from one of the bit players in Indi – the Australian Country Alliance.
The ACA has succeeded with an application to the Victorian Electoral Commission to change its name to the Australian Country Party.
Anyone with a passing interest in politics will remember the Country Party was the Nationals’ former name.
The move can only be described as a strategic attempt to provide National Party voters with an alternative.
The delay in even starting the pre-selection process is creating frustration from some local Nationals.
Don Chambers, who contested the 2001 election, is one of them.
The brakes are being applied at head office.
But they need to be released shortly if the Nationals are to be any chance of being a legitimate contender come the next election.
Even potential candidates would be starting to wonder what is going on with the delay.