So the former Wangaratta councillor, who lives on a Milawa dairy farm with her husband and young daughter, has decided to stand as an independent for Ovens Valley in November’s state election.

She will be up against Nationals incumbent Tim McCurdy.

“If we don’t change the way we vote, we’re never going to get a different outcome,” Ms Atkins said.

“We are missing out, we are not getting the resources and the infrastructure that we need.

“In fact, we’re looking on as Wodonga, Shepparton, other regional centres are getting so much more than us.”

Ovens Valley is the fourth-safest conservative seat in Victoria, but Ms Atkins wants to follow what Shepparton MP Suzanna Sheed was able to achieve by getting elected in 2014.

A touch of orange on the posters and T-shirts at Tuesday’s launch may have also been a nod to federal Indi MP Cathy McGowan.

As one of the founding members of Voices for Indi, Ms Atkins has been heavily involved in Ms McGowan’s election campaigns.

“I’m very proud to have been part of Voices for Indi and the way we’ve changed local politics,” she said.

“I’ll be following her values and her ideals.”

Prior to that, she was a member of the Nationals – the party she is now trying to remove from the seat.

“Politics has changed so much in our part of the patch over the last 10 years,” Ms Atkins said. 

“We expect better behaviour in our Victorian Parliament.

“We’re sick of the rorts, we’re sick of the mud-slinging, we’re sick of the nastiness. We want some respectful and intelligent debate.”

She said the issue of Mr McCurdy’s pending fraud charges in court was “a matter for Tim”.

Key platforms for Ms Atkins were growing job opportunities in small businesses and manufacturing, which she said were the “heart of the community”, but were not coming into Wangaratta and Yarrawonga enough.

She said she would also focus on education, support for agriculture and continue her role in the Wangaratta Local Drug Action Team involved in setting up a rehabilitation centre in the city.

“We need to be doing all we can to be supporting people and families who are affected by problematic drug use,” she said.

“I now look differently at schools and how they’re resourced, at childcare, at kindergartens and I really think we need more of an investment made in our communities.”