Title Company Bio Cathy was born in Albury Hospital and raised on a dairy farm in the Indigo Valley near Wodonga. She was educated in Beechworth and Melbourne and gained qualifications in economics and agriculture. She began her working life in rural Victoria as a teacher in Nhill and Wangaratta, and then as electoral assistant for Ewen Cameron, the Federal Member for Indi, in the 1980s, before joining the Victorian Department of Agriculture. When she was 27, Cathy purchased a farm in the Indigo Valley and established a rural consulting business with a focus on working with communities, and farming families on issues such as Home and Community Care, child care, and care for people with cancer. This gave Cathy an understanding of the various challenges facing small business and community groups, and how they could be overcome. Cathy has also worked as an academic at the University of Western Sydney, researcher, and company director. Her work with women in agriculture took her all around the world, with contracts in Papua New Guinea and Ireland and she was regularly asked to speak at international conferences. Cathy’s community service has been acknowledged with an Order of Australia, a national Centenary medal, and the award of a Churchill Fellowship. Cathy stood as an independent candidate in the 2013 election for the Federal seat of Indi to provide voters with a real choice for representation on issues that matter to them. She was re-elected again in 2016.