Federal election: Kooyong; Josh Frydenberg and Monique Ryan hit polling booths in hotly contested seat
The race for Kooyong is nearly over. Here’s the latest on how things are shaping up.
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The race for one of Australia’s most hotly contested seats is drawing to a close, as both candidates confirm their opinion the contest will go down to the wire.
Kooyong, a seat held by venerated Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, is held by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg with a margin of 6.4 per cent.
But a challenge from independent candidate Dr Monique Ryan, who is funded by Hawthorn millionaire Simon Holmes a Court, is predicted to come close and possibly steal the prized blue-ribbon seat.
The relatively quiet campaign gathered extraordinary momentum in the past three days, beginning with a combative encounter between Mr Holmes a Court and federal Liberal Senator Jane Hume, who told the businessman to “leave me alone”.
On Saturday morning the Liberal Party lodged a dramatic complaint with the Australian Electoral Commission over unauthorised Mandarin-language corflutes.
The complaint was emphatically denied by Dr Ryan’s campaign.
But while the momentum and much of the media has been behind Dr Ryan, local voters interviewed by The Herald Sun on Saturday appeared to be firmly behind the Treasurer.
Luke, 33, voted for the Liberal Party and Mr Frydenberg because of his admiration for the incumbent.
“I’ve got lots of respect for Josh,” he said outside the polling booth at Glenferrie Primary School in Hawthorn.
“I thought the way they handled the pandemic and the level of support was pretty good/”
Another voter, Caitlyn, said she voted for the Liberal Party.
“I feel as though he’s the candidate with the most experience,” she told the Herald Sun.
“I feel like the level of support we got during Covid was excellent.”
Earlier in the campaign, Mr Frydenberg conceded that he was in a “battle royale” to retain the seat.
Dr Ryan’s campaign has regularly told media they expect the contest will be decided by as few as 500 votes.
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