Early in her first year as Indi MP, Helen Haines was told by a National Party MP that she did not know what she was talking about.
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She reflected on her past 12 months during a webinar chat with Alana Johnson from Voices for Indi on Monday to mark the anniversary of the 2019 federal election.
The name of the MP who heckled her in Parliament was not revealed, but Dr Haines did describe the "pretty shocking" feeling.
"I remember the first speech I made that got a lot of pushback when I spoke against the cashless debit card - there were people rubbishing me like mad and telling me I was no good," she said.
"Of course that felt pretty shocking at first, but I soldiered on.
"There was one particular member of the National Party who was rather loud about his dislike of my speech, so I thought I'd go across and ask him what the problem was ... He told me in no uncertain terms that I didn't know what I was talking about, and I reassured him that I did.
"Interestingly just last week when I made a speech on aged care, the very same MP leaned across and said 'that was a fantastic speech, I always like to hear what you've got to say about aged care'."
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Dr Haines said she now knows to not take comments personally because they are usually about MPs barracking for their side.
Criticism of the MP was also common on social media, including comments she said were sometimes "a bit rough".
"There are some people who just don't like me because I'm an independent in what was a safe seat. Most of the trolls are around when I talk about integrity, funnily enough, and when I talk about climate that's usually when I get a bit of a whack," she said.
"You've got to have thick skin and that's OK.
"If I can go to bed at night knowing I did my best and some folks maybe didn't like that, then that's how it is."
Dr Haines told the webinar she has "learnt an awful lot in a year",
"I feel healthy and well and super energetic. It might have been nice to get a holiday at some point over Christmas - I nearly got one. I got all the way to Western Australia," she said.
"It was absolutely the right thing to come back when Black Summer (bushfires) hit us."
