New England independent Adam Blakester among nation's most donated to candidates in 2019 federal election

Mr Blakester had the fifth highest number of donations to an individual candidate in the nation, with 225 donors, and was 10^th for total donations at $92,529.

It's impossible to tell how much was donated to incumbent Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, as donations are made to the National Party, which then distributes it among its candidates. The Nationals are not obligated to reveal how the money is distributed.

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Mr Blakester, who pulled 14.2 per cent of the primary vote, said the donation numbers symbolised a growing groundswell of people supporting change.

"What that demonstrates for me is the extreme desire across our electorate for a different kind of political leadership and policy platform," he said.

"I'm deeply humbled and incredibly surprised by how much we were able to fund raise. I didn't expect to get anywhere near that $95,000 figure."

Mr Blakester spent every donation and then some on the campaign, which cost a total of $95,352.

"The money was largely used for advertising, that used up the bulk of it," Mr Blakester said.

"The next largest was travel and working our way across this enormous electorate of ours."

The only other New England candidate listed as receiving a donation was Cindy Duncan, who stood for Clive Palmer's United Australia Party. She received one $10,000 donation, spending $4000 of it.

Independent Natasha Ledger's campaign cost $2500 and fellow independent Rob Taber spend just over $1700.

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The nation's two new independent MPs, Zali Steggall and Helen Haines, both had more than 1000 donors.

"I think that 1000 number is significant," Mr Blakester said.

"It's getting to that one to two per cent of an electorate's population. That becomes significant from a social change point of view and demonstrates many people in the electorate have a stake in the election's outcome."

Mr Blakester said there was "always potential" for him to run for the seat of New England again and plans to check in with a number of people he met throughout the campaign.

"The key question I've been putting to people since the election is 'what do we need to do to get one in three people to vote differently?'," Mr Blakester said.

"It's an enormous undertaking in this electorate, given Barnaby Joyce's standing, with one in two people favouring him.

"He's in a very strong position and if anyone is going to have a tilt, they need a good strategy and answer to that question."