With less than three days left before the final day of voting, the campaign to secure the votes of those final undecided voters has intensified.
In a clear indication of who they perceive as their biggest threat, the Liberal Party has ramped up its attack on independent candidate Deb Leonard, with social media ads, corflute signage, and mail outs.
The latest mail out to hit the homes in the electorate, a “10 things I hate about you” style pamphlet attacks “Deb Leonard and the Teal Independents”.
The attacks on Leonard even prompted her mum to write to the paper this week, defending her daughter. “Deb has had a lot of mis-information thrown around about her this campaign, but I believe the people of Monash can see Deb for who she is – a genuine independent and a hardworking, wonderful representative we can count on to fight for us,” Mrs Leonard wrote.
A group called HotHouseMag Pty Ltd has authorised a series of mail outs attacking Peter Dutton, with the latest arriving just days out from the election.
HotHouseMag describes itself as a network of creatives, academics, experts and activists, stating ”this content is made for community by community”.
Despite not having a visible candidate in Monash (has anyone actually seen Alex Wehbe in the flesh?), the Trumpet of Patriots continue to make their presence felt, mainly through relentless advertising and a tsunami of text messages, bombarding people’s phones.
Voters online have complained about the endless barrage of ads and surveys, and the Trumpet of Patriot texts. Common criticism includes the amount of money spent on advertising by the campaigns.
One person claimed his wife had been targeted numerous times by what they described as a pro Deb Leonard survey, and “total social media dumping”.
Another said they’d prefer the candidates spent their money “telling me what they’re going to do for us”, rather than attacking their opponents.
One voter noted the Liberal flyers for Mary Aldred didn’t even mention the $10 million commitment to the Phillip Island sports hub, which “would have won some votes” in this area.
Pre poll
At the pre-polling booth in Cowes, people continue to cast their votes in record numbers.
As of April 30, 5993 people had already voted in Cowes, an average of 856 per day.
For the most part, it’s been a friendly affair, with local people handing out flyers for the various candidates.
A strikingly young team was at the polls on Wednesday, handing out flyers for Mary Aldred, between playing on their mobile phones, while volunteers handing out Russell Broadbent flyers, also slipped voters a flyer instructing how to vote for the Libertarian party in the senate.
Formerly the Liberal Democrats, the Libertarian party’s platform includes: opposing government imposed restrictions and mandates that curtail personal freedoms; getting rid of net-zero goals; privatising the ABC, SBS and NBN; abolishing the Department of Education; support for nuclear energy; opposing gender self-identification; supporting a definition of a woman and; freezing and decentralising the minimum wage.
Vote
For anyone wanting to vote early, the pre-poll in Cowes (at the Masonic Hall in Church Street, opposite Coles carpark) is open today until 5.30pm, and on Friday from 8.30am until 6pm.
On election day, Saturday May 3, polling booths will be open from 8am until 6pm at the following locations:
- San Remo Recreation Centre, 1A Wynne Road
- Newhaven Hall, 23 Cleeland Street
- Rhyll Mechanics Institute, 42-52 Lock Road
- Phillip Island Masonic Lodge, 92 Church Street, Cowes
As the election comes to a close, even the most enthusiastic political pundit could be excused for feeling weary. On the whole, it’s been a relentless and uninspiring campaign, marked mostly by political gaffs by the leaders and cultural wars whipped up in the absence of true policy debate.
The polls are now predicting the Labor Government will be returned, possibly even holding onto its majority, but polls have been known to be wrong.
By Saturday night, we should know who the next government will be, and who will represent Monash in the parliament.
In the meantime, there was one bright spot for Deb Leonard in this final bruising week of the campaign.
ABC’s Gruen Nation on Wednesday night closed with her rap track, sending it out to a national audience. The clip has been viewed thousands of times, and an extended 12” version has also now been released online. So, election 2025 … that’s a (w)rap.
For more, visit our election information page.