Division of Indi

Indi Australian House of Representatives Division
300px Division of Indi (green) in Victoria
Created	1901
MP	Cathy McGowan
Party	Independent
Namesake	Murray River (Aboriginal name)
Electors	98,399 (2013)
Area	28,567 km2 (11,029.8 sq mi)
Demographic	Rural

The Division of Indi /ˈɪndaɪ/ is an Australian Electoral Division in northeastern Victoria. The largest settlements in the division are the regional cities of Wodonga, Wangaratta, and Benalla. Other towns in the electorate include Rutherglen, Mansfield, Beechworth, Myrtleford, Bright, Alexandra, Tallangatta, Corryong and a number of other small villages (notably 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. 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 than Wodonga.

Indi has existed continuously since Federation. It was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. The most nationally prominent person to represent Indi to date was the first, Sir Isaac Isaacs, who rose to become Attorney-General of Australia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, and the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. Another member for Indi, John "Black Jack" McEwen, was a long-serving Minister and was briefly Prime Minister of Australia after the death of Harold Holt in 1967, but he was member for Murray by then. Indi has been held by a member of a conservative party (either the Liberal Party and its predecessors or the National Party) or a conservative independent for all but four terms since Federation, and without interruption since 1931. Labor last won the seat in 1928 when the Country incumbent forgot to renominate. Since 2004, the Liberal primary vote has been in decline, falling from 63% in 2004, to 54% in 2007, 53% in 2010 and 45% in 2013.

The current member for Indi since the 2013 election is independent Cathy McGowan. McGowan defeated Liberal Party incumbent Sophie Mirabella, the only incumbent Liberal MP to lose their seat at the 2013 election.

Members

Member		Party	Term
	Isaac Isaacs	Protectionist	1901–1906
	Joseph Brown	Anti-Socialist	1906–1909
		Commonwealth Liberal	1909–1910
	Parker Moloney	Labour	1910–1913
	Cornelius Ahern	Commonwealth Liberal	1913–1914
	Parker Moloney	Labor	1914–1917
	John Leckie	Nationalist	1917–1919
	Robert Cook	Country	1919–1928
	Paul Jones	Labor	1928–1931
	William Hutchinson	United Australia	1931–1937
	John McEwen	Country	1937–1949
	William Bostock	Liberal	1949–1958
	Mac Holten	Country	1958–1975
		National Country	1975–1977
	Ewen Cameron	Liberal	1977–1993
	Lou Lieberman	Liberal	1993–2001
	Sophie Mirabella	Liberal	2001–2013
	Cathy McGowan	Independent	2013–present

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the Division of Indi

Australian federal election, 2013: Indi

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sophie Mirabella	39,785	44.68	−7.17
	Independent	Cathy McGowan	27,763	31.18	+31.18
	Labor	Robyn Walsh	10,375	11.65	−16.54
	Greens	Jenny O'Connor	3,041	3.42	−6.21
	Palmer United	Robert Murphy	2,417	2.71	+2.71
	Sex Party	Helma Aschenbrenner	1,402	1.57	+1.57
	Family First	Rick Leeworthy	1,330	1.49	−2.24
	Rise Up Australia	Robert Dudley	985	1.11	+1.11
	Independent	Jennifer Podesta	841	0.94	+0.94
	Katter's Australian	Phil Rourke	615	0.69	+0.69
	Bullet Train	William Hayes	489	0.55	+0.55
Total formal votes			89,043	94.91	−1.18
Informal votes			4,774	5.09	+1.18
Turnout			93,817	95.17	+0.56
Two-party-preferred result
	Liberal	Sophie Mirabella	52,625	59.10	+0.11
	Labor	Robyn Walsh	36,418	40.90	−0.11
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Cathy McGowan	44,741	50.25	+50.25
	Liberal	Sophie Mirabella	44,302	49.75	−10.17
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing	N/A

See also

• Electoral results for the Division of Indi

External links

• Division of Indi – Australian Electoral Commission