‘The most important part’: Port Kembla Public School volunteers ready for Election Day tradition

The Port Kembla Public School P&C will be cooking with gas on Election Day with the group in charge of preparing the sacred democracy sausages.

Once every three years Australians line up to engage in the most important of civic duties.

This Saturday, millions of battling Aussies will be tasked with making a decisive choice - tomato or barbecue sauce?

A sausage sanga (or a sausage on bread for those that are that way inclined) on Election Day has been a common occurrence for more than four decades, but the due reverence for the democracy sausage has only been paid in the last few years.

The democracy sausage became associated with the Twitter hashtags #auspol and #ausvotes on the eve of the 2016 federal elections with the term “democracy sausage” selected as the 2016 Australian Word of the Year by the Australian National Dictionary Centre.

This is important stuff.

Tarryn Bracken is a part of Port Kembla Public School’s P&C and she is helping run one of more than a dozen Election Day barbecues across the Illawarra.

The responsibility on Ms Bracken’s shoulders is not lost on her.

“I think it’s the most important part of the day,” she told The Illawarra Star.

Port Kembla Primary School P&C member Tarryn Bracken will be in charge of cooking up democracy sausages on Election Day. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“It adds a bit of a fun element to the day because elections can be pretty stressful. There’s a lot riding on them, especially this one.

“Having a barbeque brings the community together, it’s the Aussie way to have a democracy sausage to lighten the mood and it’s a great way to raise funds for the kids.”

More than 20kg of snags will be picked up first thing on Saturday morning with vegetarian bangers also set to be tossed on the barbie.

Each democracy sausage will cost $2.50 and Ms Bracken said all the proceeds will be being funnelled back into the school of around 240 students.

An Aussie call to action outside Port Kembla Public School. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“At our school we try to raise money for projects to support the kids,” she said.

“When the school needs something we look at how we can contribute to getting it.”

For those who won’t be around Port Kembla on Saturday, democracysausage.org is a helpful not-so-governmental website that will point you in the direction of your closest democracy sausage station.

And while you’re there, you might also want to cast your vote because apparently there’s a federal election going on.