July 15, 2026 — 5:00amThe community independents movement is set to expand beyond its traditional battlegrounds of affluent Liberal strongholds and target Labor and National Party heartlands in a bid to capitalise on Victorian voters’ growing dissatisfaction with the major parties.Voices of the Inner West will, on Wednesday, unveil human rights lawyer Jessica Marsh as its candidate for Footscray, marking the first time a “Voices of” community-backed independent has contested the marginal Labor-held seat.Voices of the Inner West has selected human rights lawyer Jess Marsh as an independent candidate for the state seat of Footscray.Jason SouthThe expansion comes as the latest Resolve Political Monitor for The Age found 46 per cent of voters intend to support a candidate outside of Labor or the Coalition at the November state election, up from 29 per cent who voted for minor parties or independents at the last election in 2022.While One Nation accounts for about 22 per cent of the current voting intention, the remainder of the vote is expected to spill across the Greens, independents and minor parties.Marsh, 41, is a Yarraville-based lawyer and mother of three who, after beginning her career in commercial law, has spent more than a decade working in refugee law, including with the United Nations refugee agency.Having previously been a member of the Greens, Marsh said running as an independent would allow her to be more pragmatic and give voters in the inner-west a choice beyond the major parties.“I don’t think the community independent movement should be limited to attacking one party,” she said. “It’s good for democracy.”She also argued dissatisfaction with the major parties was driving support for both independents and One Nation, although for different reasons.“I think the reasons they are considering that [One Nation] are similar to the reasons people are voting independent. The current system isn’t working for people,” she said.Though Footscray has historically been one of Labor’s safest seats, it became marginal after the 2022 election.“A big theme that has come through is the feeling of this being the area that built Melbourne, the industrial heartland, and it has long been taken for granted,” she said.Independent candidate Sophie Torney is running against Jess Wilson in the seat of Kew.Chris HopkinsMarsh said if elected, she would be guided by her “values and principles” and was prepared to work with either side of politics in the event of a hung parliament.Voices of the Inner West received some funding from fundraising vehicle Climate 200 during its candidate search. So far, Marsh’s campaign is self-funded, but sources close to Climate 200, speaking on background to discuss election plans, said the fundraising vehicle best known for its association with “teal” independents expected to provide financial support to Marsh’s campaign.Climate 200 is also backing the campaigns of Sophie Torney in Kew and Shima Ibuki in Hawthorn, and may also be expected to provide financial backing for a candidate in the seat of Mornington after Dr Kate Lardner, a Climate 200-backed candidate, won 49.3 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote in the seat in 2022.More recently, Dr Lachie McKeeman has been unveiled as the community independent in Benambra, centred around Wodonga, where Liberal Bill Tilley is retiring. A “Voices of” group in the neighbouring National Party-held seat of Ovens Valley is also expected to unveil a candidate to challenge long-standing MP Tim McCurdy.Voices of Deakin – a community group that backed independents in the federal seat of Deakin in Melbourne’s East – has also completed its search for the candidates to stand in the overlapping state seats of Croydon and Ringwood.President Mandy Maguire told The Age the Voices of Deakin group had actively approached well-known residents in the community to encourage them to challenge the major parties.In the seat of Croydon, former deputy Liberal leader David Hodgett is retiring from his now-marginal seat after 20 years. Will Fowles, who sits as an independent after being forced to resign from the parliamentary Labor Party over assault allegations, currently holds Ringwood.Maguire said she was not disheartened by the surge for One Nation potentially eating into support for community independents.“I see One Nation as a protest vote, and we are on the other side of that coin,” she said.Fowles has always denied an alleged assault. Victoria Police investigated the allegation and no charges were laid.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners