Community Independent candidate Kate Dezarnaulds is optimistic about the future despite falling short in the Kiama by-election.

After finishing third in Gilmore in the federal election in May, she again got the bronze medal in the state by-election with 10.3% of the primary vote.

It was her first crack at the state seat and the Berry businesswoman believes the Community Independent group can move forward from this base.

Dezarnaulds described the election campaign, which had a “wild and woolly” ballot paper of 13 nominees, as genuinely enjoyable.

“Respectful, friendly, and focused on ideas and the needs of our community,” was how she described the by-election race.

“There are also valuable lessons here for our growing Independent for South Coast movement.”

She said at the federal level, where compulsory preferential voting applies, it is easier for an independent to succeed but the optional preferential voting system in NSW made it hard for an outsider to impact the final two-candidate count.

“There is no doubt that the major parties are united in their desire to stem the threat of community-backed independents,” she said.

“Our scrutineers reported that where voters did choose to use their preferences, we attracted strong second-preference support across the spectrum - from Liberal, Labor, Greens, and minor parties alike.

“The Liberal Party recommended ‘just vote 1’, a strategy that ultimately has helped entrench Labor’s dominance.

“We now have Labor at a state and federal level from south of Sydney to the border.

“That lack of diversity says far more about the current state of the Liberal Party than it does the popularity of Labor‘s platform in the regions.”

Dezarnaulds claimed the nine candidates from the minor parties and “non-local independents” had made it difficult for her mission to break the Labor-Liberal stranglehold.

“With no genuine prospect of success, this noise made it trickier for our community-backed, sensible-centre campaign to distinctively stand out from the crowd,” she said.

“Despite those challenges, we achieved real growth this time to be really proud of.

“Across the Kiama LGA and northern Shoalhaven, we now consistently hover at around 15% of the primary vote, a super strong platform for the future.

“This foundation puts us in a strong position for the next contest. We may have fallen a few percentage points short of our goal this time, but we’ve earned our bronze medal, learned the lessons, and built the foundations again.

“In 18 months we have the opportunity to be back, stronger, more time to be organised, and ever more determined to keep challenging the broken two-party system with genuine community-led solutions.

“Politics remains too important to be left to the politicians.”