Michelle Milthorpe has come a long way since 29 February 2024 when she first typed “how to become an independent” in her phone’s browser while sitting in her car.
The teacher from Jindera, a short drive north of Albury, was fed up with the local member she had voted in many times before, Sussan Ley.
Ley, at that time the deputy opposition leader, had by then held the seat for nearly 23 years.
With the help of the federal independent MP Helen Haines from across the Victorian border and the grassroots political movement Voices of Farrer, Milthorpe shaved Ley’s lead down to just 6.2% at the federal election last May.
But 12 months on, the fight to become Farrer’s representative in Canberra is a vastly different battlefield.
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation hopes to expand its lower house presence on the back of a recent surge in support, with the 69-year-old local agribusiness consultant David Farley as its candidate.
Standing in his and Hanson’s way is the 47-year-old teacher, who is tipped to eclipse the Coalition’s two candidates on 9 May, although barely any seat-specific opinion polls have been published.
“It’s a completely different ballgame this time,” Milthorpe says.
‘You don’t have to scream and shout to be heard’
The mother of three doesn’t do things by half.
In a former life as a wedding singer she belted out Shania Twain and Céline Dion numbers (“not necessarily my favourites”) across regional New South Wales.
But her introduction to the political world came after experiencing horrific family events.
In 2013, her daughters, Pippa and Rose, then just eight and five, told Milthorpe a family friend had been sexually assaulting them.
The disclosure set her on a years-long mission. After experiencing the justice system first-hand – which meant her young daughters had to retell and relive their experiences countless times to lawyers – she joined the Justice Shouldn’t Hurt campaign and they waived their right to anonymity.
In response, the NSW government eventually introduced permanent changes to allow child sexual assault survivors to pre-record their testimonies and have access to witness intermediaries.
Milthorpe says the gruelling experience, and the “beige” responses she received from politicians, was a catalyst for getting into politics.
“It made me look at, what else do we miss out on regionally because people aren’t listening, people aren’t doing their job, or it doesn’t suit the party agenda,” she says.
“You don’t have to scream and shout to be heard. You just need to have examples and solutions and address a need, and you can get things done.”
Milthorpe says thousands of people from across the electorate have donated to her campaign. It is also backed by Climate 200, the Simon Holmes à Court-founded funding vehicle, known for assisting the campaigns of inner-city teals who ousted Liberal MPs in the 2022 federal election.
Milthorpe’s opponents say this shows she isn’t a “real” independent.
But despite being one of the few moderate candidates in a field of primarily conservative and right-leaning aspirants, Milthorpe insists she is not a bush teal.
“I do find it a bit laughable,” she says. “It’s a weak and lazy criticism.
“My context is very different, and I would argue that those women [inner city teals], who do a great job representing their communities, have very little understanding of what’s going on out here for us. Because no one’s telling them.
“It’s nothing personal. It’s just that the reality is that we’ve got nothing in common, except that we’re women who want to do well for our communities.”
Milthorpe featured at an event on Saturday alongside the independent ACT senator David Pocock, who is also known for his strong stance on climate change, but she has a different approach to energy policy.
“So, it’s not left, right – it’s whatever suits us,” she says. “My [political] leaning needs to be Farrer.”
Farrer – the second largest seat in NSW – is home to a number of small renewable energy projects.
Milthorpe says she supports them, but believes grid stability isn’t possible without coal and gas. She also wants fairer remuneration for people in the regions where renewables projects are sited.
“I think batteries are great, but they’re super expensive. EVs [electric vehicles] aren’t fabulous out here,” she says, pointing to the loaned Toyota Landcruiser she uses to travel thousands of kilometres around the seat.
“It’s the lack of foresight in some of the infrastructure that’s required … regional communities are shouldering the burden of [renewable energy projects] and are not being remunerated or consulted in a way that is appropriate.”
‘Our businesses can’t run without migrants’
Another issue being stoked by her biggest competitor, One Nation, is immigration.
Farley told a pub event this month that the country’s immigration settings had become “loose and wild” and that the number of migrants needed to be slashed.
For Milthorpe, immigration is part of the solution to the region’s problems, not an alarm bell.
“We need to have place-based immigration in our electorate. Our businesses can’t run without migrants,” she says.
The population in Albury, the electorate’s largest town, is growing faster than the regional NSW average, according to the latest Economic Indicators report.
Workforce shortages in health and aged care are common in regional Australia and Albury is no exception.
“Putting a target federally over [immigration levels] that doesn’t support what we need in regional communities – it needs to be specific to our needs,” Milthorpe says.
If Milthorpe emerges as One Nation’s nearest challenger, the outcome will very likely hinge on the Coalition parties’ preference decisions.
If the Nationals and Liberals decide to place One Nation above Milthorpe on their how-to-vote cards, it could deliver the seat to Hanson’s party.
“I find it fascinating that the Liberal party would choose to preference a party that seemingly wants to take them out,” Milthorpe says. “If that’s what they think they need to do, they’ve got to think about what that means for their future.
“I do challenge people to move away from, you know, what you’ve been told to vote for. Think for yourselves. If you can’t vote for me [as] one, vote for me [as] two and number every box.
“I’m here because I was feeling dissatisfied with the major parties. They don’t understand our regional context. My job is to take the voices of Farrer to parliament and make sure that people understand what we need out here.”
• In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380.
