INDI MP Helen Haines says her Liberal foe Ross Lyman is "regurgitating" lies and directions he is given, by stating a vote for her is a vote for a federal Labor government.
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The Independent was reacting to Mr Lyman saying a "vote for Helen Haines is a vote for an uncertain, underprepared Albanese Labor government".
Dr Haines replied: "Ross Lyman is just regurgitating the lies and the instructions he gets from Melbourne.
"What you see with Ross Lyman is a candidate who can't speak for himself, who can't speak to a plan for Indi, he barely knows our electorate, so he's doing exactly what he would do if he was a backbencher in a Coalition government.
"He would do what he's told...and he would never speak for the people of Indi because he cannot, he can only regurgitate the party lines, the dot points and the spin of the Coalition government."
Mr Lyman repeated criticism of Dr Haines declining to say who she would support in the case of a hung parliament and supporting Labor and the Greens in parliamentary votes.
The former soldier said he was not disappointed Prime Minister Scott Morrison had not joined him on the campaign trail, after visiting Indi twice at the last election.
Mr Lyman is hopeful a higher primary vote for the Nationals in this poll will help him win Indi, with the rural party only scoring 9.4 per cent in 2019 with former Wodonga mayor Mark Byatt as candidate.
Nationals candidate Liz Fisher said she "absolutely" expected to exceed Mr Byatt's tally, saying she would like to think she had done a good job canvassing.
Labor candidate Nadia David was hopeful her party would win government in its own right with 80 seats.
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The criminologist wants to score 20 per cent of the primary vote in Indi which would be eight per cent up from Labor's total in 2019.
Ms David plans to run again at Indi in the next election and named would-be ministers Bill Shorten, Ged Kearney and Claire O'Neil as likely visitors to Indi to discuss the NDIS, Bright health precinct and aged care respectively if Labor wins.
She said investment into regions and renewable energy jobs "meant there will be a lot more Labor ministers coming into the area".
Greens Indi candidate Benjamin Gilbert expects to draw a high level of young voters worried about climate change inaction.
"It's my job to connect with the really well-organised youth groups that are educating other youth about how our politics works," he said.
"There's a bit of illiteracy around politics in Australia and that serves the existing parties really well and I'd like to see that change."
Dr Haines is seeking to win a second term as Indi's MP.
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