Coalition’s ‘groupies’ taunt at independents will only turn off voters, Cathy McGowan warns

Cathy McGowan says independents like the ‘voices of’ and teal candidates at the 2022 federal election are tapping into a genuine desire for change in Australia. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

People in National party seats will be turned off by Bridget McKenzie’s characterisation of community independents as “Simon Holmes à Court’s groupies”, the former Indi independent Cathy McGowan has warned.

McGowan said the Coalition’s increasingly strident rhetoric was “sliding off” rural and regional independent candidates and it showed voters that the Nationals and Liberals did not understand the movement.