Helen Haines' political career

Helen Haines' political career

Independent MP Helen Haines was critically injured on Monday afternoon when she was struck by a car outside her electorate office in Wangaratta in Victoria’s northeast. While the story around that incident is still evolving, we thought it might be helpful to give you an idea of:

• Who Helen Haines is

• Her journey into parliament

• And what she’s best known for

🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams

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What area of Australia does Helen Haines represent in parliament?
She’s the federal MP for the electorate of Indi (pronounced in-dye…) which she’s won 3 times in a row. It’s a large, rural electorate in Victoria’s north-east which runs along the Murray River boundary and reaches inland to the Alps.

What was her path to parliament?
She grew up with 4 brothers on a dairy farm near Colac, in the south-west of Victoria. She had a long career in healthcare, spending 3 decades as a nurse, a midwife and an academic - she has a PhD in medical science, having finished her thesis on childbirth at a uni in Sweden. She’s particularly focused on maternal health, and rural health…

Tell me more about Indi…
As well as spanning rural areas and the Victorian Alps, the seat also includes cities like Wangaratta and Wodonga. For most of its history, it’s been held by the conservative Liberal and National parties. But that changed in 2013, when Voices for Indi - a grassroots group of local people - started a campaign to make a change in the seat. 

Who were the Voices for Indi?
It was a group of people who felt like they’d been underserved by the sitting Liberal MP, Sophie Mirabella - so they put forward their own independent candidate Cathy McGowan to run against her. McGowan won and served 2 terms before deciding to retire in 2019. But she said she’d only go if she was confident that an independent successor would win her seat.

Enter Helen Haines?
Yep…  Haines said that she became “really excited by local politics” when McGowan first won the seat of Indi, and was a part of the Voices for Indi movement that helped get her elected. After Haines took part in a forum with 200 Voices for Indi supporters, they chose her to be the person to try to hold the seat as an independent. Her local connections, her health expertise, and her experience in the group were all advantages.

Were there any critics?
It did create a bit of a stir at the time because some said that Haines’ selection was basically a preselection process by any other name, but it worked - McGowan said she was the “right person to receive the baton”.

And Haines won the seat?
She did, but it was close - she earned 51.4% of the 2-candidate-preferred vote. That made her the first independent in history to succeed another independent in a federal seat. 

What has she achieved in politics?
The biggest achievement to her name is probably the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, or the NACC. To take a step back, 2 years into her term she introduced a bill to create a federal integrity commission. It was blocked by the Coalition government at the time, but when the Albanese Government won the 2022 election, it got the ball rolling - and Haines has been significantly involved ever since.

What’s the NACC?
It’s an independent body that investigates our public sector for corruption. If you’ve heard of the Independent Commission Against Corruption or ICAC in NSW, it’s like that - but for the federal government. It did take a long time to become a thing, though, compared to the state versions - and it was Haines who was a major force behind making it happen. 

Did it take the form that she wanted?
Not quite… She said the NACC hearings should be public but the government said no to that - they argued that the hearings must be private, unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

What else has she campaigned for?
As the member for a rural seat, rural concerns have been consistently at the top of her agenda - particularly rural health - she’s been pushing a lot for more investment in that. She also gave a speech at the National Rural Press Club in 2023 arguing that housing was becoming a real pressure point in rural and regional communities. That issue hasn’t gone away.

Where does she sit on the political spectrum?
She’s generally described as a moderate - someone who sits in the centre of politics, maybe with a lean to the progressive side - and does business with both parties.

Is she part of the teal movement?
While climate has been a big focus for her, she’s generally not seen as a teal independent (the group of independent MPs who have won traditionally Liberal seats off the back of climate-focused policies) and she doesn’t describe herself as one either.

What is her standing in her electorate?
Broadly, her electorate seems pretty happy with her. We mentioned that her first election in 2019 was pretty close, but she improved her share of the 2-candidate-preferred vote to around 58% in the 2022 and 2025 elections. 

How has the community responded after she was attacked?
People have rallied around her, leaving flowers at her electorate office and some have called into talkback radio shows to share stories about her (one man said she’d delivered his kids when she was a midwife and others said she’s always available to go for a coffee with locals). 

How about politicians?
Politicians from both parties have paid tribute to her since. PM Anthony Albanese called her “fiercely intelligent”, and speaker Milton Dick said she brought “so much grace, compassion and decency to our parliament.” So, as we wait for updates on her health and the investigation into the alleged attack, hopefully that gives you some background on who Haines is and her political career.

Onto our Recommendations

Reading: Helen Haines’ maiden speech to Parliament in which she calls for action on rural health, climate change, and a federal integrity commission.

Reading: And here’s a piece that dives further into the handover from McGowan to Haines.

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