Staggering price of a democracy sausage is revealed as Aussies head to the polls

Long lines twisted around the streets surrounding Toorak Primary School, in the hotly-contested Victorian seat of Kooyong.

Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer made an appearance at Toorak Primary School on Saturday afternoon, greeting voters and discussing the issues currently facing their electorate.

Ms Hamer said she was “feeling really, really good” about the turn out and was feeling confident about the result.

Despite dramatic scenes unfolding across the streets of Camberwell and Malvern throughout the campaign, including defaced corflutes and stolen signs, Ms Hamer said there hasn’t been many surprises on election day, minus some “sore feet”.

“We’ve been having some great conversations (with voters),” she told NewsWire.

Patrick, 29, who lives in the Melbourne electorate and mainly about the cost of living crisis, placed his vote for former AFL player and candidate Anthony Koutoufides, as he “didn’t really like the options in Melbourne”.

Out the front of Toorak Primary School, dad-to-be Harrison Matsoukis, 31, who works as a plumber and admitted he wasn’t well-versed in politics, cast his vote for the Labor Party on Saturday, citing their “plan for the future”.

“Given my partner and I have a baby on the way, it’s at the forefront of my mind … I want to ensure that as a country, we continue to grow and be an economical power,” he said.

Another voter who confessed his knowledge of politics could be improved, Shaun, 57, put Monique Ryan in the top spot, with a “scattered” selection of candidates afterwards.

“I just asked my wife and she said, ‘this is who you should vote for’,” he joked.

Further southeast in Prahran, the crowd was quiet as the queue wrapped around the corner of Prahran High School.

With only two hours until polls close, locals were forced to wait for an hour-and-a-half outside the secondary school to cast their vote, with some expressing their frustration with the long lines.

“The queue is just not moving,” a voter grumbled to a campaigner as they shifted their feet.

A man, who was fed-up with standing in the queue, said he would “rather cop the fine than wait in line”.

Tommy Hill Pacada, a 25-year-old psychologist from Prahran, gathered information for his vote from the flyers handed out the front of the high school. Focussed on issues surrounding “renewables and the HECS debt”, his top vote went to the Labor Party, followed by The Greens, though he said he “wished he did more research” about the candidates before placing his vote.

“I’m pretty secluded when it comes to the news,” he said. “So, all my decisions I made were based on the papers that were given to me today.”

Another voter, who wished to be anonymous, vented her frustration with running politicians who have failed to highlight the “rough sleeper issue” at the polling booths.

“This is in every state; it’s not just a Victorian problem,” she said.

Slamming the “Liberal policy” of first home buyers relying on superannuation to secure a home deposit, the voter told a Liberal campaigner she was disappointed with policies from both major parties.

“I don’t think any of the polices, from Labor or Liberal, will decrease the cost of houses,” she added.

Residents of the hotly-contested seat of Fowler in Sydney’s south west have the cost of living and international wars at the forefront of their minds.

The move away from major parties is a growing trend in this electorate which is currently held by independent MP Dai Le. Young voter Jack said he will “always vote Greens”, with the war in Palestine a massive factor in his decision on Saturday.

Independent MP Dai Le snatched the seat at the 2022 election, beating Labor’s parachuted candidate, former Federal Senator and NSW Premier Kristina Keneally.

In the neighbouring seat of McMahon, currently held by Labor’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen on a margin of 10.5 per cent, the mood against the major parties was just the same.

Truck driver Paul Pettitt is a long way from his own electorate but that isn’t stopping him campaigning “in a neutral way” for the local independent running in the western Sydney seat of McMahon.

Mr Pettitt ran as an independent for the Freedom Party of Victoria in his local electorate of Mornington Peninsula in 2022, securing just 1041 votes.

Mr Pettitt said on Saturday he was abstaining from voting in today’s election.

He said the reason for not voting is because of “how filthy and corrupt the whole election system was.”

Voting in Australian elections is compulsory, with Mr Pettitt now facing a $20 “administrative penalty”.

Despite not voting or living in Sydney, Mr Pettitt said he is here to help independent Matthew Camenzuli in a “neutral way.”

“I believe he’s all right. He’s a real independent and not a fake.”

When asked what it would take to vote for a major party, Mr Pettitt answered: “they just lie through their teeth.”

Across town, in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler, it was the price of the sausage sizzles that had voters talking.

Voters paid the hefty fee of $6 for their right to a democracy sausage with a ‘paesanella haloumi’ coming in at $9.50. Telling though, was the $2.50 additional charge for an egg – which by 12.30pm was sold out at one particular stand.

“[The price] is coming up a bit but so is everything in the world, so it’s just kind of part of it,” Marrickville local Lee Tavanagh said. “You got to do it, right? We’ve really cultivated the democracy sausage as part of our culture and it’s for charity, it’s helping the schools so can’t really go wrong.”

Mr Tavanagh said the primary issues of climate change, affordable housing and student debt were deciding factors in his vote for the Greens.

“Just being more in touch with people from our younger generation is the main thing,” he said. “Labor is definitely hands-down better than all the things that the Liberals are doing across the country, but even in Albo’s own electorate, I still went for Greens.”