Helen Haines

On 13 January 2019, Haines was endorsed by community organisation Voices 4 Indi as the potential successor to incumbent MP Cathy McGowan for the division of Indi in the 2019 federal election. McGowan, an independent, had won the seat from the Liberal Party in the 2013 election and retained it in 2016, and had stated that she would retire at the 2019 election if she was confident that an independent successor, chosen by Voices 4 Indi, would be able to retain the seat. On 14 January, McGowan formally announced her pending retirement, stating her confidence in Haines and endorsing her for the election.

Haines grew up on a dairy farm in Colac in southwestern Victoria with four brothers, and attended a public school in Eurack. She trained as a registered nurse at St Vincent's Hospital and later as a midwife at Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne. In 1986, she moved to northeastern Victoria and began working as a midwife at Wangaratta Base Hospital before being appointed matron and Director of Nursing at the Chiltern Bush Nursing Hospital. Haines completed a bachelor's degree at Deakin University and a master's degree in epidemiology and public health at the University of New South Wales. In 2004, she travelled to Stockholm to study at Uppsala University, completing a doctoral degree in medical science in 2012. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Karolinska Institute.

Helen Mary Haines (born 21 September 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as the independent MP for the Victorian seat of Indi since the 2019 federal election.