Electoral Form Guide: Indi
Electorate: Indi
Margin: Liberal 9.2%
Location: North-Eastern Regional, Victoria
In a nutshell: Covering a strongly conservative area of northern Victoria that includes Wangaratta and Wodonga, Indi was gained by the Liberals from the Nationals in 1977. Sophie Mirabella (then Panopoulos) has held the seat comfortably since 2001.
The candidates
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Electorate analysis: Bordered to the north by the Murray River, Indi covers an area of northern Victoria including Wangaratta, Benalla and the border town of Wodonga. It passed from National Country Party to Liberal control in 1977 when incumbent Mac Holten was defeated by Ewen Cameron on Labor preferences. The Nationals contested in 2001 when Liberal member Lou Lieberman retired, but managed only 12.3 per cent compared with 40.1 per cent for Liberal candidate Sophie Panopoulos, a barrister and Australians for Constititutional Monarchy activist. Panopoulos married in 2006 and assumed her husband’s surname of Mirabella. After the 2007 election defeat Mirabella was promoted to parliamentary secretary, and rose again to the junior ministry when Malcolm Turnbull became leader, assuming the early childhood education and childcare portfolios before moving to innovation, industry, science and research when Tony Abbott became leader in December 2009.
Analysis written by William Bowe. Read Bowe’s blog, The Poll Bludger.