NORTH-SOUTH pipeline critic Jan Beer has announced she is running as an independent in the seat of Seymour, dealing a blow to the Brumby government's chances of holding the regional seat.
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The 63-year-old beef farmer told The Sunday Age her anger at the Brumby government motivated her to stand for election.
''I feel so strongly that democratic government should be by the people, for the people and of the people. Under this government it is none of these things.''
Mrs Beer, one of the government's most vocal critics, is a spokeswoman for Plug the Pipe, the group that fought the plan to pipe water over the Great Dividing Range to Melbourne.
Mrs Beer is also taking the government to court over breaches to her privacy after Melbourne Water and its partners monitored her protest activities.
Labor's Ben Hardman holds Seymour with a margin of 6.7 per cent, but the Coalition has sniffed a possible win and has already announced it will spend $130 million on a Kilmore-Wallan bypass if elected.
If Mrs Beer does not win the seat - lower house seats are a tough ask for independents - her preferences could be crucial in deciding who does.
Mrs Beer said she was yet to decide where her preferences would go - Coalition, Green or other minor parties - but she would preference Labor last.
The electorate of Seymour is on the urban-rural boundary, taking in fast-developing areas such as Wallan and Kilmore as well as bushfire-affected towns like Marysville and Kinglake.
