Victoria’s hot seats LIVE updates: Gaza a flashpoint as Labor under fire; After 23 days, Bruce candidate Safi finally speaks

The urn was boiled, the nibbles laid out at the back of the room, and the conversation had turned to the percentage of the federal budget spent on the ABC when things took a dramatic turn.

Kooyong MP Monique Ryan had just remarked that the national broadcaster’s annual budget was “about as much as we spend on keeping 100 refugees on Nauru and PNG” when a man’s voice suddenly bellowed from the back of the room.

“We’re just here to ask about immigration and crime,” he said.

In a room at the Kew Library filled with civic-minded locals waiting to hear from the Kooyong candidates about the state of the media, the arrival of the three unexpected men disrupted the calm.

Leading them was a bald man with a goatee, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the “Australian Workers Alliance” – a self-described nationalist organisation whose mission includes the “preservation of Western culture and identity”. One of the other men wore a leather jacket and filmed the room with his phone – a dead giveaway that the goal was to capture a viral “gotcha” moment. The third man, dressed in a grey hoodie and sneakers, loitered nearby with his hands in his pockets as back-up.

An unsuspecting convener approached the man and asked if he had registered. He said yes – then launched into his tirade.

“I want to know when political crime will address the correlation between immigration and crime. When will the politicians address it?

“We have an unprecedented correlation between immigration and crime. When will the politicians address it? You are putting our people at risk,” he boomed, pointing his finger at the candidates: Ryan, Jackie Carter from the Greens, and Clive Crosby from Labor. Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was a no-show.

With no security guard present and the room stunned, things quickly escalated.

“This is not the forum for that!” one man shouted.

But the agitator – later identified by The Age as Matt Trihey, an associate of neo-Nazis who denies being a neo-Nazi himself – only roared louder. “This is something these people need to answer because the people are being put at risk,” he bellowed.

“Get out of here,” another man yelled. “Rack off, rack off.”

Trihey responded: “Address it, address it. Are you all too scared to address it?” The three candidates, along with MC Jennifer Bowen, sat in silence as several female organisers attempted to usher Trihey out, one pulling at his arm.

“Don’t touch me,” he screamed. “We are governed by parasites! It’s the biggest issue of our time and politicians are ignoring it.”

By now, Ryan had stood up with the microphone, clearly weighing whether and how to respond.

Trihey began ranting about rising rape rates. At that moment, a clearly distressed woman seated near the front, hands over her ears, let out a blood-curdling scream.

Still, Trihey kept ranting. Other attendees yelled, “f— off!” The woman screamed again. Others tried to calm her down.

A group of women – including Bowen and organisers from ABC Friends – were now actively trying to remove Trihey, but he pushed through them. The room erupted into a cacophony of yelling. Then, the woman who had screamed stormed to the back of the room

“Excuse me, please!” she said, politely nudging aside onlookers before raising her fist and attempting to strike Trihey in the face. Organisers quickly got between them, trying to calm the woman. Ryan moved to console her.

Ryan then asked Greens candidate Jackie Carter to call the police.

Trihey, grinning at the chaos, kept shouting.

“We are the working class, we are the working class,” he yelled.

Eventually, the trio began moving towards the exit. I attempted to ask them who they were and what organisation they represented, but Trihey’s cameraman turned his back. The woman inside screamed again.

Laughing, Trihey said: “I hope I haven’t spoiled your evening, guys. I just want answers!

“I want to go to bed at night and not worry about home invasions.”

An older woman gave Trihey a final shove out the door, to which he responded: “I’m very fragile … have a great day, guys!”

He continued yelling through the sliding doors until an organiser finally closed them.

Outside, I spoke with the trio. Trihey gave his name, but the other two refused. They denied being members of a political party, saying only that they were affiliated with Trihey’s outfit.

A few moments later, the police arrived.

Back inside, Bowen worked to calm the shaken room. One attendee led a brief relaxation exercise.

“If you need to wiggle in your chairs or put your arms in the air or take your feet on the ground, do whatever you need to, because we’re not here to talk about neo-Nazis right now,” she said.

The forum continued for another 40 minutes, including a debate about legislation on social media access for minors and the need for stronger misinformation regulation.

Afterwards, I caught up with Ryan. She said she had spoken to the woman who attempted to hit Trihey, but organisers told me the woman was still quite distressed by the incident.

Ryan also appeared on ABC Radio Melbourne earlier today for a debrief with host Brett McLeod.

“I think the thing that really distressed some of the members of the audience is they started shouting about rape and women’s rape. It was all a bit incoherent, but it was threatening, and it was really unfortunate, because many members of the audience who are a little bit older [were] really taken aback by the events and clearly a bit threatened by them.”

Ryan, also bewildered by the scene, described the moment involving the older woman.

“She was a little lady, pretty frail, and he was not a small man, and I was really concerned about that, and their potential for that to escalate, where he did give her a push or something like that.”

She said the woman was “a bit horrified by the whole thing”, telling Ryan she’d been “really enjoying the event” and found it “a really worthwhile thing”.

“She was really, really angry at these gentlemen for disrupting as they did,” said Ryan.

I tried to contact the woman today, but organisers said she was too distressed to respond.

Despite the drama, Ryan said community groups should not be deterred from holding forums, something the organisers of last night’s event agreed with. Next time, they’ll book a security guard.

“We shouldn’t be silenced by right-wing nut bags,” said Ryan. “Essentially, we should continue to have these forums and enjoy the democracy that we’re so lucky to have.”

A docile candidates’ forum about public broadcasting, at a library in Kooyong, descended into chaos on Wednesday evening after far-right agitators gatecrashed the event, prompting one woman to throw a punch at one of the protesters.

Kooyong MP Monique Ryan personally intervened to stop attendees getting into physical altercations after a frustrated female attendee tried to punch one of the agitators in the face. It’s the second such disruption at a forum in Kooyong this week.

Ryan was speaking alongside Greens candidate Jackie Carter and Labor candidate Clive Crosby to a crowd of about 60 people at Kew Library at the event convened by Friends of the ABC to discuss the state of the media in Australia and ABC funding. Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was invited but did not attend.

About half an hour into the discussion, three men entered the room, and one – who later identified himself to The Age as Matt Trihey – began shouting about immigration causing crime, knife crime, political donations and home invasions.

“You people are destroying this country because you will not address civic safety,” he shouted.

Attendees at the event started yelling at the men to leave. One woman approached Trihey and attempted to punch him in the face before other attendees intervened – including Ryan.

The woman appeared distraught after the incident and was quickly comforted by Ryan and others.

Trihey was flanked by two other men – one of whom who was filming – who did not give their identities to The Age.

The trio were eventually shepherded out after about eight minutes when police arrived. Trihey is trained in martial arts and was a member of the Lads Society, founded by neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, but has since denied being a neo-Nazi himself.

Earlier this year, Trihey and his self-described “nationalist” group, the National Workers Alliance, gatecrashed a Chinese celebration in Box Hill, which was filmed and praised by neo-Nazi Joel Davis as “solid work”.

Trihey also drew attention at this year’s Australia Day rally alongside white supremacist Blair Cottrell, and last year when he opened an anti-transgender rights rally on the steps of Victoria’s parliament.

Marion Crooke, an organiser of the Kew event, said the three men entered during proceedings while the front door was unlocked and the registration table unmanned.

“I asked him if he had registered, he said yes – I had no opportunity to check,” she said. Crooke said she hadn’t considered the event might need security, and was shocked by the events that transpired.

Afterwards, we spoke to Ryan who said she didn’t feel any personal threat against her, but had been concerned about the distress caused to the attendees.

“They weren’t expecting that sort of interruption, and it was upsetting [for them],” she said.

Ryan asked Greens candidate Jackie Carter to call the police.

“I was concerned for them. I was also concerned that things could potentially get out of hand if someone felt the need to [physically] intervene,” she said. “It’s unfortunate … I’ve not heard of that sort of thing [happening at other forums].”

A Victoria Police spokesman said officers were called to the event about 6.30pm.

“Officers spoke to the men and at this stage no further complaints have been made to police. The investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Labor senator Jana Stewart has fired off letters calling for an investigation into Liberal candidate for Bruce Zahid Safi’s NDIS businesses after reporting in this blog.

Yesterday, we brought you news of the curious case of Safi and his wife’s business empire – which includes NDIS businesses that publish fake reviews, stock images and inaccurate corporate records.

Stewart, a member of parliament’s joint standing committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, clearly read the stories because she fired off a letter today detailing the allegations and calling for a multi-pronged investigation.

Her letter was addressed to NDIA chief executive Rebecca Falkingham, but copied in were AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw, ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant and ACCC chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

“Dear Ms Falkingham,

“I refer to the enclosed media report published by The Age on 22 April 2025 (the report) in relation to several businesses owned by or linked to Mr Zahid Safi.

“The report is deeply concerning. It raises serious questions about whether three NDIS businesses owned by, or linked to, Mr Safi are genuine NDIS providers and, if so, the standard of care provided to vulnerable participants being services by Mr Safi’s businesses …”

Stewart writes that “given the range of possible offences across multiple Commonwealth statutes”, she considers it appropriate to bring the issues to the attention of key agencies for investigation.

Stewart’s letter singles out three of Safi and his wife’s NDIS businesses – Willow Support Services, Casey Care Services and Infinite Community Supports – as requiring scrutiny.

The letter says NDIS providers should act with “honesty, integrity and transparency” and questions whether the use of fake reviews, stock images and outdated addresses across these businesses meet that standard.

“Willow Support … appears to have its registered office at an address it does not occupy,” she writes.

A Liberal source told The Age yesterday that Safi has “no role” in one business, Infinite Community Supports, but Safi’s mobile number is listed on the company’s website, and Stewart queried whether accurate information had been provided in the registration process.

“The report raises serious questions about the quality of the initial registration audit and subsequent audits,” she wrote.

“In light of the deeply concerning matters raised in the report, I urge … a thorough investigation of these three NDIS providers.”

The Liberal Party has so far stood by its candidate.

After declining to answer detailed questions about Safi’s many businesses, a spokesperson issued a statement on Tuesday: “Like many small business owners, Zahid acknowledges that his administrative paperwork isn’t always up to date and has taken steps with his accountant to rectify [this].”

The Liberal Party was contacted for comment about Stewart’s push for an investigation today. I sent Safi a full copy of the letter, and called and texted to see if he wanted to respond, but didn’t hear back.

Minister for Social Services and the NDIS Amanda Rishworth said she was aware that a referral had been made for the issue to be investigated: “The reports about the Liberal candidate for Bruce’s NDIS businesses are concerning …

“Ensuring the integrity of the NDIS – and the quality and safety of participants – is something our government has prioritised.”

I arrived at the pre-poll station for Bruce at Dandenong Stadium about 10am and things were already in full swing.

The ABC’s Patricia Karvelas was interviewing Labor MP Julian Hill for television, and Greens candidate Rhonda Garad was surrounded by volunteers from Muslim Votes Matter.

“Why do we have to be served up such a poor candidate?” Garad said, referring to our story about Liberal candidate Zahid Safi’s businesses from yesterday.

“There’s been a lack of due diligence and people are angry.”

Our story raised questions about businesses owned by Safi, including the use of fake reviews, stock images and outdated addresses. Documents filed with the corporate regulator show two of Safi’s businesses – NDIS provider Casey Care Services and training business Inspire Training Australia – have been deregistered as recently as March for unpaid fees.

Volunteers from across the political spectrum (One Nation, Libertarian, Greens, Muslim Votes Matter, Australia Votes) came up to me to say thanks for the story. “The sector is rotten,” said one, who didn’t want to be named.

So where is the Liberal candidate? He manned this booth for hours yesterday, but didn’t appear this morning.

“He will be here,” one of his more than 10 volunteers assured me. “That’s allowed.”

But after almost three hours passed, there was still no sign of the candidate who has been hard to track down this campaign.

So instead, I turned my attention to the voters turning up to cast their votes early.

David Moore from Doveton voted Liberal out of fear Labor would make changes to negative gearing.

“I own a few properties,” he said.

Moore said he was voting for the party, not the candidate, and was worried Labor would strike deals with minor parties that might hurt his investments in the event of a hung parliament.

Moore works in NDIS and hadn’t read our story about questions around Safi’s NDIS businesses, but said he would be concerned if they were using fake reviews.

“It is concerning,” he said of the reports. “But I’m not voting for him, I’m voting for the party. I’m voting for Dutton.

“There’s not a lot of regulation around [the] NDIS. One of the most ridiculous things is you only need an ABN to work in NDIS.”

Rohit Singh works in tiling and also voted Liberal. He said Labor hadn’t delivered on promises and he felt let down by Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan, who had been “sticking her nose in other problems”, referring to her comments on Richmond’s Noah Balta.

“She shouldn’t be doing that,” he said.

He added that Albanese often talked of growing up in public housing, but he was unconvinced Albanese’s government was helping people in the same situation.

“He should be helping people but he’s not.”

Another voter, Zorica Freeman, said she had just voted Liberal “because everything is too expensive these days”.

“Labor has neglected a lot of stuff, so a change in government would be a good thing,” she said.

Freeman thought Safi was a good candidate, but criticised the NDIS sector more broadly.

“As far as I’m concerned, they should cut out the middlemen.”

Valerie Stevenson lives in public housing nearby and voted Labor, even though she said she’d felt let down by Albanese’s leadership.

“I don’t trust either of them,” she said of the major parties.

Stevenson relies on the pension, and said her Centrelink payments recently went up by $8, but then her public housing rent went up by $10, so she’s been left worse off.

After buying basic food, petrol and bills – she doesn’t have much left, so spends most of her time at home.

“It’s hard,” she says. “I’ve always voted Labor.”

Just on noon, a large bus sponsored by a lobby group from Queensland called Minority Impact Coalition started circling the carpark with a big attack ad against Labor: “Labor and Julian Hill failed us.”

The right-wing group describes itself as a coalition of “multi-ethnic backgrounds” concerned about Labor and the Greens, endorsed by Hindus of Australia, QLD Jewish Collective and the Iran Novin Party.

As the sun beat down on the pavement in the early afternoon, blue-shirted volunteers dished out sunscreen to its people.

Online, Hill posted a video of what he described as Safi’s only interview – weeks ago with Sky News.

“I’ve challenged him to a debate, but he seems to be in hiding,” he wrote.

Locals packed into the pews at Armadale Baptist Church on Tuesday evening to hear three Kooyong candidates take questions on one of the more emotionally charged — and politically fraught — issues in Australian politics: the treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum.

Notably absent was Amelia Hamer, the Liberal Party’s candidate for the seat. Organisers said she’d been invited, but never confirmed. Her absence left a conspicuous empty chair again.

Hamer also skipped a climate-focused candidates’ forum earlier this month.

While the forum was largely calm and refugee policy-focused, there was one moment of tension when an audience member — whom The Age has identified as anti-lockdown campaigner Harrison McLean — stood to ask independent MP Monique Ryan about the incident from last month where her husband was caught on camera removing a Hamer campaign sign.

“We’ve talked a lot tonight about refugees but my question is actually about political integrity. How can the voters of Kooyong trust your campaign, when your husband was caught stealing a corflute of a rival campaign opponent?” asked McLean who was filming on his phone and later posted it to his Telegram channel, Melbourne Freedom Rally.

There was uproar in the audience.

Ryan did not respond, and Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, stepped in with a firm and widely applauded rebuke.

“Excuse me. Sorry… this is an event on refugees, and we don’t appreciate being hijacked for issues that are not regarding refugees,” he said.

“Please respect the purpose of tonight and the voices of refugees. This is not your platform tonight. Pick another one. Please sit down and please disregard that question … You are welcome to get your gotcha moment somewhere else. It’s not here.”

I tried to approach McLean afterwards for comment but he made a beeline past me for the exit without answering. McLean was revealed last week as one of two far-right agitators who confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a similar incident in a hotel lobby.

I reached out to McLean again today for comment and he said he “entered the event with the intention of asking a tough but fair question to Monique Ryan.”

“It is disappointing that she did not address the question, and that genuine critical inquiry into the candidates was shut down by the organisers of the event.”

If you are interested in watching the full forum back, you can watch it here. But here is a summary of what the candidates had to say on the issue of asylum seekers and refugees.

Ryan: “Our politics has become meaner and smaller”

Ryan, seeking a second term in Kooyong, didn’t hold back in her critique of Australia’s asylum-seeker policies, describing them as increasingly punitive and lacking in transparency.

“Our politics has become meaner and smaller in the last two or three decades,” she said.

“I remember when I was a child, Australia taking refugees and asylum seekers was a source of pride for the country. It wasn’t something politicians fought over.”

She praised former prime ministers from both major parties – Bob Hawke, Malcolm Fraser and Paul Keating – for leading with compassion on refugee issues, and paid tribute to one of her predecessors, the late Liberal MP Petro Georgiou, who died two weeks ago.

“He was a man who demonstrated great personal integrity in the way that he fought for the rights of refugees,” Ryan said.

Ryan called for an end to indefinite detention, greater access to services for people on bridging visas, and a clear pathway to permanent residency for those caught in the fast-track system.

Crosby defends Labor’s record, calls out rising extremism

Labor’s candidate, Clive Crosby, highlighted changes made under the Albanese government — including increasing the humanitarian intake to 20,000, abolishing temporary protection visas, and speeding up visa processing.

He also expressed concern about the rise of far-right sentiment in Australia, referencing extremist groups with Donald Trump-style rhetoric calling for mass deportations.

“If I was elected, I would call it out and would not behave in that way and engage in the sort of dog whistling that we’ve seen in the vilification of refugees and migrants from people in the previous government and just generally in the community in these dangerous fringe groups,” he said.

When asked what Labor would do for people still in limbo, such as those medically evacuated from Nauru and PNG, Crosby said the government was working through them.

“Unfortunately, we can’t simultaneously review 7000 cases,” he said. “It is being done on a case-by-case basis because these are rather complex cases.”

Greens: “Seeking asylum is a human right”

Greens candidate Jackie Carter called for a complete end to offshore detention and for Australia’s humanitarian intake to rise to 50,000.

“Seeking asylum is a human right, but right now, our government is treating it like a crime,” she said.

Carter said that people granted refugee status should have full access to work, education, and social services — and delays and legal uncertainty were causing real harm.

“I think sometimes that is lost in the bureaucracy … we’re talking about real lives and people and families.”

The Greens’ policies aligned closely with many of the positions supported by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, which hosted the forum.

When the last local paper in Brunswick closed in 2021, during COVID’s second year, Mark Phillips decided to do something about it.

His Leader newspaper was the last in a succession of local papers in Brunswick to fold. Phillips, a journalist for almost two decades before leaving the Australian Financial Review in 2008, saw a vacuum.

“I thought, I’ve got the experience and skills to do something myself,” says Phillips, who launched Brunswick Voice in 2021 as a blog.

It’s since grown into a website, weekly newsletter and quarterly print edition with 5000 copies distributed in public places. “Anywhere people congregate,” says Phillips.

Brunswick Voice is part of a wave of “hyperlocal” news sites in inner Melbourne.

Others include The Rotunda (Fitzroy North), TWISK (St Kilda), and The Westsider (Footscray).

University student Charlie Gill launched The Rotunda, also in 2021, named after the rotunda in Fitzroy North’s Edinburgh Gardens.

“We were in COVID, and it seemed like a good thing to do – North Fitzroy has a community feel and a newspaper made sense,” Gill says.

Depending on his university workload, the 24-year-old publishes four to six editions a year.

His latest featured Labor’s Peter Khalil and the Greens’ Samantha Ratnam on the cover in front of the rotunda, after a redistribution had brought the suburbs of Fitzroy North and Carlton North into Wills for the first time.

“North Fitzroy is a big deal because it has now come into Wills, and it’s a big question of whether they will stay with the Greens or go back to Labor,” Gill says.

Gill has about 6000 copies of The Rotunda printed. “We try to get them to every door in North Fitzroy – that’s the goal – and into cafes.”

This election, local papers like The Rotunda and Brunswick Voice aim to better inform residents.

“Access to news about US politics is now so much bigger than what’s happening in your own street,” says Phillips, who hopes newspapers and websites like his can help fill the gap left by the demise of traditional local papers.

“People can just about read what Donald Trump had for breakfast, but in terms of what decisions the council is making or what investments or decisions the state and federal governments are making about things like transport or education in your area, you’re in the dark.”

Phillips began in the 1990s on a country paper in Echuca, moved through suburban and metro papers and worked in the federal press gallery, before leaving the AFR’s Melbourne bureau.

Originally, he “basically subsidised [Brunswick Voice] because I really believe in the importance of doing this”.

Now, while he isn’t earning an income from the newspaper and website, ads and donations means Phillips breaks even.

The current edition carries ads from Ratnam and Khalil – the Greens got the all-important front page slot, while Labor took out a full-page ad inside.

“I sent the same email to different advertisers and said, ‘These are the options, first in, best dressed’, and the Greens were first – I would have been equally happy to take Labor on the front page if they’d come back first.”

Phillips has made space for minor parties running Wills too, like Fusion’s Owen Miller.

“Fusion will only get a couple of per cent of the vote, but he’s really having a go, and he’s in it for the right reasons,” Phillips says.

“That’s something where local newspapers can have an impact. And local announcements are important. Labor announced a new emergency healthcare clinic in Coburg. That’s not going to make national news, but it’s important for people to know in the electorate, regardless of who is promising it.”

The trade-off is he doesn’t always get to some events the mainstream press is at – like a recent visit by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to a Pascoe Vale South chemist, which Phillips only heard about afterward.

Phillips reports what he can, but knows there’s a huge gap left by the wider collapse of local media in Australia, and internationally. “So much goes unreported and unrecognised because local papers don’t exist any more.”

He bristles at claims that Facebook groups and other social media sites or apps fill the gap.

“The idea that they fill the void – they absolutely don’t. They don’t do the on-the-ground reporting and they generally descend into absolute trivia or people hurling insults at each other.”

After Opposition Leader Peter Dutton claimed Victorians were afraid to go to the shops because of rising crime, I thought it might be worth checking this theory in Brighton.

“People don’t feel safe in their own homes, their businesses, taking public transport or even at the shops,” Dutton said on Monday.

The comments echoed a controversial claim Dutton made as home affairs minister seven years ago, when he visited Melbourne and declared the city’s residents were scared to go out to restaurants at night because they would be followed home by gangs.

In the pre-poll queue at St Stephen’s Anglican Church in the heart of Brighton, Goldstein’s Liberal candidate Tim Wilson said crime was one of the key issues voters wanted to discuss.

Wilson has campaigned hard on crime, distributing flyers depicting two dark, hooded figures with their faces obscured, one wielding a large machete.

“Stopping machetes and large knives. Making our communities safer,” the flyer says. “Safer communities start with fewer knives and machetes. Violent home invasions, car thefts and knife crimes are out of control. Weak enforcement and state bail laws have facilitated this crime explosion and we are all paying the price. The federal government should be helping.”

In the flyer, Wilson said he and Dutton would prevent minors and dangerous individuals from buying or possessing dangerous knives, make it illegal to post material glamorising violence, drug and property crimes to boost a person’s notoriety, and establish an antisemitism taskforce.

Given these claims, I looked at Victoria’s crime statistics, which are divided by local government area rather than by electorate.

The criminal incident rate per 100,000 of population for the Bayside region, which includes Brighton, Hampton, Brighton East, Sandringham and Highett, was 4079 last year, down slightly from 2023 when the criminal incident rate was 4181.

When asked if people in Goldstein were scared to go the shops, Wilson said he had been told this when doorknocking.

“Yesterday I was doorknocking in Moorabbin, and people, almost every second house, talked about crime as a really serious issue that people had in their street, whether it was people loitering in their streets, issues around drugs and drug dealing, people who are afraid to leave their home,” he said. “I can only say what people are saying to me … that’s literally what people are saying.”

Incumbent teal MP Zoe Daniel said crime was an issue, but Goldstein residents were confident to go out shopping.

“I know people in my community are concerned about safety around aggravated burglaries and car theft,” she said. “No one has said to me that they’re frightened to go to the shops. I don’t really have much more to offer on that.”

Brighton resident Matthew Bolton was even more succinct when asked what he thought of Dutton’s analysis as he stood waiting to vote.

“I think that is a tad dramatic,” he said. “At least in this area.”

Pre-polling opened across Australia today and in Goldstein both incumbent independent teal MP Zoe Daniel and Liberal candidate Tim Wilson turned up to the polling station at St Stephen’s church in Brighton at the same time.

Wearing a teal hoodie Daniel stood next to a mini-marquee part way down the line where her volunteers offered dog and bike minding services for those casting their votes along with some protection from the generally sunny weather.

Wilson worked his way up and down the queue of voters, which stretched to almost 100 metres long at its peak, resulting in a few close encounters with Daniel where the two candidates steadfastly ignored each other.

The only hint of conflict was when one voter attempted some queue-jumping and was quickly shown to the end of the line by other voters.

“Watch out or there will be fisticuffs,” one person in the queue laughed.

Daniel said it seemed like many people voting early knew who they were voting for already and had come with intent.

“The vibe has been really positive,” she said. “I don’t know how you read vibes, but there is a lot of ‘Good luck’, ‘You’ve got this’.”

Wilson, dressed in a blue “Vote 1 Tim Wilson” T-shirt over a business shirt, said he had been to all three pre-polling stations in Goldstein that morning.

“Unsurprisingly, Brighton has been incredibly warm, but Hampton has been extremely warm as well, and the same with Cheltenham,” he said. “It’s been extremely encouraging.”

Wilson said crime was the most common thing that voters wanted to talk about in the queue.

“The thing that stands out to me is that there’s a very high number of people voting for us, but there’s then quite a strong division of the alternate between Labor and the teals,” he said.

Wilson shook hands and introduced himself with: “Hi, I’m Tim.” He generally elicited a positive response.

“Tim, I remember your face from everywhere,” one woman said warmly, but one heckler shouted: “How’s robodebt going, Tim?”

In the 2022 election the St Stephen’s polling booth in Brighton was a Liberal stronghold with Wilson securing 44.75 per cent of the primary vote followed by Daniel on 35.30 per cent, Labor on 9.25 per cent and the Greens on 5.67 per cent.

Across Goldstein, Wilson’s primary vote was 40.38 per cent and Daniel was 34.47 per cent with Daniel securing the seat on a two candidate preferred basis.

Twenty-year-old Matthew Bolton queued for about 15 minutes to cast his first vote in a federal election.

Bolton said during the campaign he had seen corflutes for Daniel and Wilson “on every corner” but had not seen anything for the rest of the candidates until arriving at the pre-polling booth.

For him, raising the minimum wage is a key election issue.

“Obviously, I’m a minimum-wage worker, so it’s relevant to me,” he said, adding he planned to vote for Daniel.

“I just feel like an independent is a pretty good choice, because if there’s a minority government, then that’s pretty good because it makes whichever party [that] wins negotiate with the crossbench.”

Further down the queue, Robin, who did not want to give her full name because her husband works in finance, said she was going to vote for Wilson and had always been a Liberal voter.

“I haven’t seen anything that Zoe Daniel has done for our area,” she said. “I’ve always been a conservative voter, and I’m just worried about what’s going on. I want stability back.”

Dressed in lycra and with his racing bike by his side, Rob Pickthall said his main concern voting this election was the cost of living.

“I think the bigger issue is what’s going to happen in the US,” he said. “I think it’s very unstable at the moment here because of that. It’s going to be hard for whatever party gets in to have a constructive way in.”

Pickthall said he was not sure who he would vote for yet and had voted for Daniel last election.

“It’s going to be interesting,” he said.