Michelle Milthorpe (centre) thanked the “Orange Army” that helped her during the campaign. Photo: Facebook.
Independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe has called out what she says is a double standard in politics favouring major parties, but says she is considering another tilt at the seat of Farrer.
The 46-year-old teacher achieved a 9 per cent swing against incumbent Sussan Ley at the federal election earlier this month, but eventually lost her bid for the electorate that is based around Albury and Griffith.
She said her campaign faced some challenges, including the “spread of misinformation” and being denied the opportunity to correct the record.
“We ran against a small group who continually circulated misleading claims, particularly around funding. I was fully transparent from the beginning about receiving a donation from Climate 200, and never misrepresented that fact,” Ms Milthorpe said.
“What’s disappointing is that the same level of scrutiny isn’t applied to major parties and their funding arrangements. I would ask the media to reflect on that and be more objective moving forward.”
Ms Milthorpe is best known for spearheading the Justice Shouldn’t Hurt campaign to make going to court easier for child victims of crime. Her advocacy was motivated by the trauma inflicted on her two daughters when they tried to seek justice after they were sexually assaulted by a family friend.
As a result of the work, the NSW Government invested $64 million in the regional expansion of a program allowing child victims to give their evidence remotely.
However, during the election campaign, Ms Milthorpe felt she was often “incorrectly labelled”.
“I ran as an independent, and to repeatedly be referred to in other ways was not only misleading, it was dishonest and insulting. It undermined the intelligence of voters and the integrity of the many hardworking people who supported this campaign.”
The Jindera resident was frequently called a “teal” during the campaign, a reference to a group of city-based female independent MPs who are said to be blue on economic issues but green on the environment and social policy. She repeatedly said she was not a teal.
She also said she was disappointed that on election night, the ABC and Australian Electoral Commission framed the contest for Farrer as a Labor versus Liberal battle by excluding her from the results of the two-party preferred count, even though she was clearly in second place in terms of the number of votes.
“It meant that the live results didn’t give a clear picture of the actual contest,” she said.
“I’d like to see more consistency and clarity around how independent candidates are represented in the count – it helps voters better understand what’s really happening.”
Ms Milthorpe thanked the 200 volunteers who donned orange shirts, doorknocked, letterboxed and spread the word about her across the electorate.
Looking to the future, she said she was hopeful that Farrer would no longer be considered a safe seat, and that increased competitiveness was essential to securing fairer representation.
“I’d like to thank people for trusting me with their vote,” she said. ”If nothing else, we’ve shown that this electorate can no longer be taken for granted. That alone is a win for our community.”
While no firm decision has been made yet, Ms Milthorpe said she was open to standing again.
“This campaign might be over, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll take some time to reflect, but I will always stand up for Farrer. We deserve better – and I’m here to help us get there.”
