Independent MP Helen Haines on using 'soft power'

Politics with Michelle Grattan · Sep 11, 2019 · 21m

Helen Haines, MP for the Victorian regional seat Indi, made history at the election as the first federal independent to succeed another independent.

She was backed by grassroots campaigners, Voices for Indi, who had earlier helped her predecessor, Cathy McGowan, into parliament. But while McGowan towards the end of her time in the House of Representatives shared real legislative power after the Coalition fell into minority government, the same power does not lie with the lower house crossbench today.

Still, Haines believes she has what she calls “soft power” as she has focused on relationship…