Dr Atkinson, who has a background in academia and writing, described her tilt at politics as a serious challenge.

“This is like a David and Goliath battle,’’ she said.

“I’m coming out of the wilderness and saying ‘we can do so much better and stop this bickering.’

“The nation is sick and tired of it and there's so much more to Australia.”

Dr Atkinson believes a national service program should be introduced to tackle unemployment and the constitution should be changed to allow a long-term council of governors to be elected.

A background in ecology and concern for the natural environment strongly influence her approach.

“My vision for working in Wannon is to actually visit the little communities and the shires, along with the state government representatives, and look at not only the big picture needs of protecting biodiversity, making our land productive and using forestation to stop climate change, but also to look at local problems,” Dr Atkinson said.

“It's looking at the opportunities that we can actually use national service to solve.”

Dr Atkinson said as an independent she could hold the balance of power and give Wannon an influential voice in federal politics.

She said her preparedness to work with other parties and with the community set her apart from other candidates.

“While I think I have good ideas that might be able to generate employment and change this economic malaise we're in, I think Australians are very able, capable people,” Dr Atkinson said.

“Within a community we will find the resources to solve the problems of that community.

“It's a matter of just tapping into what people's concerns are, the opportunities they have and trying to solve the big picture problems at the same time.”