United Australia Party volunteer to face court for allegedly flashing voters
An United Australia Party volunteer allegedly flashing an opponent, a woman allegedly dragged in the street, a man throwing himself in front of a campaign car and a major party enlisting security to guard campaign posters — welcome to election 2019. WATCH THE VIDEO
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An United Australia Party volunteer allegedly flashing an opponent, a woman allegedly dragged in the street, a man throwing himself in front of a campaign car and a major party enlisting security to guard campaign posters — welcome to election 2019.
While dirty tricks are a staple in the final hours of a campaign, the past 24 hours has seen party loyalists stoop to a new low.
An United Australia Party volunteer has landed in hot water for revealing his lower house at a Sydney polling station.
In the latest example of election day absurdities, the fiery 62-year-old ended an argument with several people at a polling booth in Bankstown, in the seat of Blaxland, by dropping his dacks.
According to police, at least three women and one man witnessed the bizarre act on Restwell Street at about 10am.
After NSW Police officers turned up and found the man with his pants down, they handed him an infringement notice for offensive conduct and told him to move on.
Labor volunteer Mariam was handing out how to vote sheets for Blaxland federal Labor MP Jason Clare and Watson federal Labor MP Tony Burke when she said the man allegedly started abusing her.
“He was handing out for United Australia, and he was being very rude,” Mariam said.
“We were instructed to tell people how to number the boxes properly because there had been a lot of informal votes and he said I was taking too long.”
Mariam said she then retreated from the school’s entrance to avoid a confrontation.
“He became a bit loud and called me a moron, he was being abusive and I wanted to remove myself,” Mariam said.
“I turned around and saw him through the fence and he pulled his pants down and unzipped, and I could see his underwear.”
At least three other volunteers nearby also saw the alleged incident before the man zipped his pants back up.
They immediately reported the incident to Australian Electoral Commission representatives at the school, who contacted police.
“The police were absolutely amazing, they were here within five minutes,” Mariam said.
“They escorted him out and said if he comes back within eight hours he will be arrested.”
Earlier a man in a Labor Party T-shirt allegedly dragged an 18-year-old Liberal Party volunteer away from the front of Concord Public School where she had been placing an A-frame promoting Reid candidate Fiona Martin on the footpath.
The incident occurred shortly after 9am with the dispute allegedly triggered when the man took issue with where the woman had been attempting to place the A-frame.
Both the man and the woman remain at the booth.
The incident followed a man blocking the passage of a Liberal campaign car last night.
Over in the marginal Liberal seat of Robertson, a Liberal volunteer was late yesterday afternoon allegedly punched in the face by a man wearing an ACTU “change the rules” T-shirt.
A Liberal Party spokesman said the man has chosen not to make a police complaint.
In the federal seat of Cowper on the mid North Coast, the Nationals have accused supporters of independent Rob Oakeshott, who helped Julia Gillard form a Labor government, of ripping down election signage.
The NSW Nationals employed security guards to sit outside key polling places around Coffs Harbour last night, according to a senior party source.
One of the security guards allegedly confronted a man at William Bayldon Public School early this morning in the seat of Cowper, who ripped down Nationals signage and threw it into a neighbouring kindergarten.
After he was confronted, the man allegedly fetched the Nationals sign from the kindergarten and put it back up on the school fence using his own zip ties, at the insistence of the security guard.
“This morning we caught (a supporter) from the Oakeshott campaign tearing down signage at William Bayldon Public School in Toormina,” NSW Nationals State Director Ross Cadell told The Sunday Telegraph.
“Several signs were ripped down before the (man) was challenged.
“Mr Oakeshott likes to pretend that he is running a positive campaign, when in fact it is nothing but negative.”
Mr Oakeshott’s campaign team weren’t aware of the incident.
“We have consistently encouraged our supporters not to react to the Nats inflammatory material,” a spokeswoman for Rob Oakeshott said.
“We have no details on the incident in question.”
Liberal party volunteers tried to stop a quiet climate change protest by three teenage girls outside the Robertson electorate’s busiest polling booth at Erina.
The teens had been standing beside the footpath holding signs calling for more action on climate change when they were approached by a man in a Liberal Party tshirt who said their signs were “unauthorised” and they would have to move away.
Bronte Mills of Matcham, Leila Mangos of Point Frederick and Jess Taylor of Umina Beach said they had checked the rules before holding their protest and had kept within those rules.
Officer in Charge of the polling station, Geoff Johnson, came out to speak to the girls and said they were free to hold their posters where they were so long as they did not obstruct voters and kept away from the political party volunteers handing out how to votes.
One of the young protesters, Leila Mangos, said that while she and her friends could not yet vote, “this was the climate election” and they were passionate about raising awareness.
“People are calling this the referendum for our future and today people have the chance to vote for the leaders who will fix our environment before it becomes too late,” she said.
The girls were not the only ones concerned about the future of the planet.
Outspoken Anglican minister Father Rod Bower is hoping to land a senate seat for the Climate Action Now party.
He said the election campaign had been fascinating in that independents like himself had “caucused around climate change”.
“They’ve come together on this issue and it has really changed the political landscape,” he said.
“If Labor wins as they are expected to do and don’t step up to the plate on climate change, the climate independents will hold the balance of power in three years time,” he said.
Some voters agreed, including Merilyn Bowden of Erina who said the biggest issue affecting her vote was climate change.
“Not enough is being done and no one is taking it seriously and for me that’s the number one priority,” Ms Bowden said.
Another voter who identified himself only as Ben said the environment and climate change were the key concern for his family.
“The last few terms of the coalition have done almost nothing about climate change,” he said.
“They just keep obfuscating. Something must be done.”
Sarah Bruce of Green Point told the Express Advocate that “climate change action, innovative policies and a little bit of compassion for refugees would determine her vote.
In the marginal Liberal seat of Gilmore on the state’s South Coast, Labor volunteers filmed a man tearing down campaign material from council property.
The man, who was warned he would be filmed, claimed Labor had “ no right” to advertise its candidate Fiona Phillips on the shelter.
“This is a public building, you will not advertise on a public building, you can have it anywhere else you like, but not on a public building,” he said.
“Film me all you like”
Gilmore is one of the most hotly-contested seats in NSW, with the Liberals desperate to hold on with Warren Mundine.
The result will be complicated by the fact the Nationals have put up former NSW MP Katrina Hodgkinson, who is understood to be polling well.
Dumped Liberal candidate Grant Schultz is also running as an independent.
Gilmore is Labor’s best chance at securing a Coalition seat to make up for the expected loss of Lindsay.
In Victoria, Labor has accused the Liberal party of dirty tricks in the marginal seat of Chisholm in Melbourne’s east where signs have appeared at polling booths claiming the correct way to vote is to place a number one next to the Liberal candidate.
The posters are written in Chinese and appear in purple and white, promoting claims from Labor that the signs are designed to look like marketing material from the Australian Electoral Commission.
The signs are authorised by the Victorian Liberal Party state director Simon Frost.
In Peter Dutton’s marginal Queensland seat of Dickson, Liberal supporters have been caught handing out how-to-vote cards for minors and independents parties which direct preference back to Mr Dutton.
Additional reporting: Jack Morphet, Eliza Barr, Cathy Stubbs and Annika Smethurst
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