The Division of Indi (pronounced ) is an Australian electoral division in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. The division is located in the north-east of the state, adjoining the border with

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The largest settlements in the division are the regional cities of

Wodonga Wodonga (Pallanganmiddang language, Waywurru: ''Wordonga'') is a city on the Victoria (Australia), Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of ...

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

, and

Benalla Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative cent ...

. Other towns in the electorate include

Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

Beechworth Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the , Beechworth had a population of 3,859. Beechworth's many histor ...

Myrtleford Myrtleford is a town in northeast Victoria, Australia, 280 km (170 miles) northeast of Melbourne and 46 km (29 miles) southeast of Wangaratta. Myrtleford is part of the Alpine Shire local government area and in 2016 the town had a po ...

Bright Bright may refer to: Common meanings *Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness *Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence People * Bright (surname) * Bright (given name) *Bright, the stage na ...

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

Tallangatta Tallangatta () is a town in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. The town lies on the banks of the Mitta Arm of Lake Hume, approximately south-east of Albury-Wodonga along the Murray Valley Highway. At the , Tallangatta had a population of 1 ...

Corryong Corryong is a small town in Victoria, Australia east of Albury-Wodonga, near the upper reaches of the Murray River and close to the New South Wales border. At the , Corryong had a population of 1,348. The post office opened on 1 February 1 ...

and a number of other small villages (including the ski resort of Falls Creek). While Indi is one of the largest electorates in Victoria, much of it is located within the largely uninhabited

Australian Alps The Australian Alps is a mountain range in southeast Australia. It comprises an interim Australian bioregion,

. While Wodonga serves as a regional hub for much of the more heavily populated northern part of the electorate, the southern part is closer to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

than Wodonga. The current member for Indi, since the 2019 federal election, is

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Helen Haines Helen Mary Haines (born 21 September 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as the independent MP for the Victorian seat of Indi since the 2019 federal election. Early life and education Haines grew up on a dairy farm in Colac in ...

Geography

Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

. Redistributions occur for the boundaries of divisions in a particular state, and they occur every seven years, or sooner if a state's representation entitlement changes or when divisions of a state are malapportioned.

History

Indi has existed continuously since

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The most nationally prominent person to represent Indi to date was the first, Sir

Isaac Isaacs Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs (6 August 1855 – 11 February 1948) was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the ninth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1931 to 1936. He had previously served on the High Court of Au ...

, who rose to become

Attorney-General of Australia The Attorney-GeneralThe title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other attorneys-general, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Aust ...

, Chief Justice of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

, and the first Australian-born

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.John "Black Jack" McEwen, was a long-serving Minister and was briefly

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

after the death of

Harold Holt Harold Edward Holt (5 August 190817 December 1967) was an Australian politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia from 1966 until his presumed death in 1967. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party. Holt was born in S ...

in 1967, but he was member for

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

by then. Indi has been held by a member of a conservative party (either the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and its predecessors or the National Party) or a conservative independent for all but four terms since Federation, and without interruption since 1931.

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

last won the seat in 1928 when the Country incumbent forgot to renominate, and retained it in 1929. Since 2004, the Liberal primary vote has been in decline, falling from 63% in 2004, to 54% in 2007, 53% in 2010, 44% in 2013 and 27% in 2016. In 2019, the Liberal primary vote rose slightly to 35% before falling again, in 2022, to 31%. At the 2013 election, independent Cathy McGowan unseated Liberal Party incumbent

Sophie Mirabella Sophie Mirabella (née Panopoulos; born 27 October 1968) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who currently serves as a Commissioner on the Fair Work Commission since 24 May 2021. She was previously a Liberal Party member of the Austra ...

, the only incumbent Liberal MP to lose his or her seat at the 2013 election. This was considered a major upset; Mirabella had gone into the election sitting on a margin of 59 percent, on the stronger side of fairly safe. Indeed, in a "traditional" two-party matchup, Mirabella would have retained the seat with a small swing in her favour against Labor. McGowan retained Indi against Mirabella at the 2016 election with an increased 54.8% (+4.6)

two-candidate-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

. The Liberal "traditional"

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP ...

was reduced to 54.4% (–4.7) against Labor's 45.6% (+4.7), a marginal two-party result not seen since the 1929 election. McGowan retired in 2019 and was succeeded by fellow independent Haines, who suffered a swing of four percent against the Liberals from McGowan's 2016 vote and was elected on Labor preferences.

Members

Election results

References

External links

Division of Indi – Australian Electoral Commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indi, Division of Electoral divisions of Australia Constituencies established in 1901 1901 establishments in Australia Wangaratta Wodonga Shire of Indigo Shire of Mansfield Alpine Shire Rural City of Benalla Shire of Murrindindi Shire of Towong