Kooyong is held by Independent MP Monique Ryan on 2.2% margin

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The ABC is in Melbourne’s east where Independent MP Monique Ryan will be looking to retain the marginal seat of Kooyong.

Transcript

00:00Here at Glenferry Primary School at the moment the aroma of the sausage sizzle I tell you is

00:08very enticing here but you can see this huge queue of voters at the moment the line snakes

00:13all the way outside and there's about a half an hour wait but the mood has been pretty happy here

00:19and of course as you mentioned one of the very high-profile voters that we just saw was Dr.

00:24Monique Ryan she has just cast her ballot and she of course is the teal independent who was one of

00:32the teal wave that swept into Australian politics back in the 2022 election defeating the former

00:38Liberal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and she says that it's a beautiful day to come out and vote

00:44she's really looking forward to going to as many polling booths as possible and this is what she

00:50had to say about today and the night ahead I think this is the sixth polling booth I've been to so

00:57far today everyone's happy to be here it's a beautiful day where I think feeling lucky to be

01:02part of a strong healthy vibrant democracy and I'm hoping that we'll keep Keung independent because

01:08people are telling me that you know they they're happy with what I've done the last three years and

01:14lots of people giving me happy thoughts and support today and that's Dr. Monique Ryan who is the

01:22independent candidate she says that it's a really important hopefully what she says is that she wants

01:28to see her role continue on the crossbench she doesn't know what's actually going to happen tonight

01:34in terms of who will end up winning government but she says that if there is a hung parliament she says

01:40that the crossbench has a really important role in bringing up both of the major parties to account

01:48and also making sure that action is taken on some really important issues that she says are here

01:53like housing and the cost of living and earlier on as part of ABC's your say I went out to speak to

02:01some of the voters about some of the key issues that they feel are important this is what they had to

02:06say I think the teal wave has been very valuable for our democracy I think it the two major

02:13parties are struggling to find any sort of difference in their major approach they seem to get closer and

02:22closer together all the time I think it would just be good to have you know some like negotiation in

02:29parliament you know the big the major parties I found haven't really been effective in legislating

02:36the right policies for younger people probably the financial situation for everybody and how much

02:42everything costs I think it's probably the most important now Steph we know that Kooyong is one of

02:47the seats to watch this election I think Monique Ryan holds it but holds it by about 2.2 percent but

02:53the Liberal candidate has been going hard there yes Catherine they certainly have here and there have

03:01been a few issues sometimes in the seat of Kooyong that we have seen but obviously here everybody

03:07just wants to see a free and fair vote today we've also been traveling to the seat of Goldstein as well

03:14which is held by former journalist Zoe Daniel she's another of those tills and that's where we have seen

03:21the demographic about 3.3 percent margin there but these are typically higher socioeconomic seats

03:27so these are areas that were once really blue ribbon Liberal seats it will be really interesting to see

03:34what happens here as well as that Victorians are feeling pretty happy about the fact that even though

03:40in the past the state was often felt as a bit of an afterthought because after all it's often seen

03:45as the Labor Party's high watermark this year we really are seeing the state of Victoria very much in play

03:53and that is evidenced by the fact that Peter Dutton has been here some six times during this election campaign

03:59really pushing his message of the cost of living and targeting some of those outer suburban seats in the growth corridors

04:07so the Labor Party is really looking like they are feeling quite nervous in a couple of the seats

04:14including Chisholm, Aston and also McEwen which is part of that fast growing area to the north

04:20but at the same time the Liberal Party also has to hold on to some of the very marginal seats that it has as well

04:28which is in Deakin and Menzies and there are a couple of other independents also

04:33for example over in Wannan and also Monash that are in play as well so it really does mean

04:40that Victoria could be quite the key to who comes out in front and who holds government after tonight

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