The seat of New England in New South Wales made headlines in 2010 after its independent MP Tony Windsor made the contentious decision to back Julia Gillard to form minority government.
The electorate has not been in Labor’s hands for 100 years, and voters were angry that their representative chose to side with a party many saw as incompatible with their values.
In this election, the seat is again up for grabs.
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Tony Windsor decided to retire in June, after 12 years in federal parliament.
If the polls are accurate, former Nationals senator for Queensland, Barnaby Joyce, will be the next MP for the electorate.
“I could see that the seat of New England, which is where I grew up, was going to be left in the lurch and I had to put my money where my mouth was and stand,” Mr Joyce said.
He denied that he is moving from the Senate to the Lower House in order to further his career and become leader of the Nationals.
Mr Joyce has also come under fire for preferencing One Nation ahead of other parties, including the Greens.
He told SBS that the party has broken free of its xenophobic past.
“It’s very dangerous when we carry a grudge," Mr Joyce said.
“You’ve got to forgive and forget.”
Voters who spoke to SBS seem indifferent to Mr Joyce, though many concede they are right-leaning and vote Nationals out of habit.
Some are still smarting from Tony Windsor’s decision to support Labor.
“I was very disappointed with how he sided in the end,” one former independent voter in Armidale told SBS.
“It’ll make me think twice.”
But independent Rob Taber, who has the support of Mr Windsor, does not think voters have been put off voting for independents.
“I still believe people do want change,” he said.
“They don’t want to support a party system.”
Country Labor candidate Stephen Hewitt hopes to pick up some of the votes from former supporters of Mr Windsor.
“Tony actually pinched a lot of Labor votes to keep himself in power,” he said.
The Greens candidate Pat Schultz is campaigning on the national issues of health and education, as well as capitalising on local discontent with coal seam gas.
She is worried that Mr Joyce will expand the practice if elected on Saturday.
