3 March 2025

Independent Farrer candidate hits back at claims she’ll help Albo stay in power

| Oliver Jacques
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a woman standing on sand near a waterway and bridge

Michelle Milthorpe campaigning in Moama. Photo: Facebook.

An independent candidate for the seat of Farrer has hit back at Liberal Party claims she’ll help Prime Minister Anthony Albanese retain power if she is elected, saying she will only support good policy and won’t “pick a side”.

Jindera-based Michelle Milthorpe, a prominent campaigner for sexual abuse victims, is running against the incumbent, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, for the vast rural electorate that extends from Albury through to Griffith and all the way to Wentworth on the South Australian border.

Opinion polls and betting markets are predicting the Albanese Labor Government will lose its majority in the upcoming election, meaning it would need to rely on support from independents and the Greens to cling to power.

READ ALSO ‘We deserve more’: advocate for child abuse victims to run for seat of Farrer

Liberal Senator Holly Hughes claims Ms Milthorpe could be one of those the PM relies on.

“The Climate 200 Teal has been a candidate for the seat of Farrer for six months and yet she still continues to mislead communities across the seat as to how she might vote in a hung parliament [where neither major party secures a majority] after the next election,” Ms Hughes wrote in a letter sent to the media.

“This Climate 200 Teal continues to refuse to answer a very straight question: if you are elected, will you support Anthony Albanese or not? The only conclusion Farrer can draw from this ongoing equivocation is that the Climate 200 Teal is trying to trick them.”

Climate 200 is an interest group that supports independent candidates who promote action on climate change. The media have called the candidates ‘’teals’’, meaning they are blue (conservative) on economic issues but green on the environment and social causes.

Ms Milthorpe says she is not a teal.

“I am an independent candidate for Farrer,” she said.

“The narrative that a teal party even exists is the narrative of the major parties to distract voters from the fact that independents exist because they are not doing their job.”

READ ALSO Sydney-based builder of Griffith affordable housing project goes into administration, local contractors owed payments

She said she would not favour either the Prime Minister or Opposition Leader Peter Dutton if she won Farrer.

“I have made my position clear multiple times on social media and in person, that I won’t be suggesting preferences other than to vote for me first, and to number every box according to the preference of the voter. It is a democratic right of voters to be able to choose their own preference,” she said.

“Regarding who I will support in the event of a balanced (‘‘hung’’) parliament, I will vote for the people of Farrer, I will vote for policy that ensures the sustainability of regional Australia. It is another scare-mongering myth by major parties that independents have to pick a side.”

The seat of Farrer is one of the safest in the country for the Liberal Party. Ms Ley has held it since 2001 and currently has a margin of 33 per cent.

The date of the federal election is not yet known but it must be held before 17 May.

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Vince Conlan10:20 am 07 Mar 25

Any vote for the LNP is a vote for the Billionaires who own our tv stations and most of the mainstream media. You don’t have to take my word for it, use your critical thinking skills and a search engine to look it up. These Billionaires do not need your support. The Farrer electorate does. It’s time for a change.

Be warned Michelle, the born to rule Liberals and Ms Ley as her natural throne.
They will throw everything at you, very dirty campaigners and even sorer losers.
Good luck and let’s hope you free Farrer from the Liberals and the out of her depth, Ms Ley.

As we have seen with Cathy McGowan and Helen Haines down in Indi, Independent Members are able to vote in parliament based on what is best for their electorate and not just tow the party lines. Good Luck to the Independents in Farrer as well as Riverina, even if you can’t win this time hopefully they can eat into the margins and at least make the LNP pay attention to the Riverina and not just take the region for granted any more.

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