Election day is upon us, with polling booths opening at 8am and a day full of democracy ahead.
Kilsyth Primary School had been turned into a battleground, littered with signs from representatives of both the Casey and Deakin electorates, with voters from both allowed to join the local line at this polling booth.
Most voters were tight-lipped about what issues and initiatives were driving their vote but a few gave their thoughts:
Viv from the Casey electorate said she was most focused on green energy initiatives, especially any that help with the cost of living and was also disappointed that parties hadn’t campaigned strongly on taking action to prevent violence against women, feeling that was ‘a missed opportunity’.
One anonymous voter said she didn’t know who she wanted to vote for, but did like the Liberal Party’s policy to allow first home buyers to claim a tax deduction for the interest payments on the first $650,000 for the first five years of their mortgage, as well as access their super to help put down a deposit on a home. Despite this, she still felt all politicians are ‘much for muchness’.
Another anonymous voter said he wanted to see politicians take a pay cut and that he felt that was ‘one thing they all vote against’.
As with every election day, the most important people on election day weren’t those on the ballot paper but the hardworking volunteers on the barbecue dishing out democracy sausages. Melanie, Amy and Adam were hard at work in the morning ensuring local voters didn’t leave hungry.
The fence line had been taken over by signs spruiking Deakin independent candidate Jess Ness and Liberal candidate Michael Sukkar while Casey independent candidate Claire Ferres Miles and Labor candidate Naomi Oakley also featured.
Inside the school grounds, Casey Greens candidate Dr Merran Blair had a couple of signs while the faces Deakin Labor candidate Matt Gregg and One Nation Senate candidate Wayne Pickering could also be found. Family First, the Greens, the Labor party and the Liberal Party also had signs displaying general support for their party.
In terms of personnel, there were plenty of coloured shirts of political volunteers. Volunteers for independent for Casey Claire Ferres Miles and for the Liberal Party were the most prevalent, with multiple teal and blue shirts handing out hand to vote cards. The Labor Party was represented by a pair of volunteers and there was a single volunteer holding down the fort for the Greens, Family First and One Nation.
