Victorian election 2022: Independents hit brick wall

Hunty Barton says you need time and money to run as an independent – with the major parties all cashed up.

Momentum for rural independents hit a brick wall over the weekend.

But Huntly Barton and other non-aligned candidates say they’ll rebuild support over the coming four years.

The Kyneton region farmer and stonemason ran against Health Minister Mary Anne Thomas in the safe Labor seat of Macedon.

“I knew I was never going to come close to winning, but it’s good to give voters a third option that isn’t Labor or Coalition,” Mr Barton said.

“It’s hard to compete against all the money, volunteers and resources they have. But independents have got elected to parliament before and they’ll win again in future.”

Huntly Barton on his Kyneton property. Picture: Zoe Phillips

It was a tough night for the rural independent movement, which was revived by Suzanna Sheed at the 2014 election after she won the seat of Shepparton.

After two terms on the crossbench, the popular Shepparton MP was one of the surprise losses over the weekend.

Ms Sheed described her successor Kim O’Keefe as a “very popular person in the community” who had been a long-serving mayor of Shepparton.

She said there was a “bit of an anti Dan feel out there”, with Shepparton Labor candidate Liam Cowan polling only 7.5 per cent of the primary vote compared to 17 per cent in 2018.

“It’s democracy, but it’s disappointing for our community to have someone sitting on the backbenches,” Ms Sheed said.

“An independent can work with the government of the day.

“We’re back to the past now.

“It’s why I’m calling for the National Party to separate from the Coalition and move onto being a party for the regions in true sense.

“The Nationals threw everything at this seat.

“My corflutes went up when I got back up from parliament in October, but theirs had been up for a couple of months.”

Ms Sheed said she wouldn’t be contesting the 2026 election.

In Benambra, independent candidate Jacqui Hawkins fell short in her second bid at toppling Liberal MP Bill Tilley.

Mr Tilley’s trump card in a hard fought battle was a commitment to pursue a new hospital for Albury-Wodonga rather than a rebuild of the Albury hospital that was announced a month before the election by Mr Andrews and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet.

The Albury rebuild option initially had the backing of Ms Hawkins before a backflip in support of the greenfield model less than a week later.

Ms Hawkins had the backing of former Indi MP Cathy McGowan, who declined to comment to The Weekly Times on the poor showing of independents across the state.