‘The poor bugger belongs to the wrong party’: voters cast early ballots in two key Sydney seats

Early polling centres across the country have opened for those unable to vote on Saturday 21 May.

Voters in two key Sydney seats were undeterred by the rain on Monday and wasted no time in casting their votes. Guardian Australia asked people who they were voting for - and why.

In the marginal seat of Wentworth in Sydney's east on Monday, a queue of voters spilled from the prepoll centre on Oxford Street in Bondi Junction on to the footpath.

The seat is held by the Liberal MP Dave Sharma on a margin of 1.3% and the desperation of his campaign and that of his main challenger, teal independent Allegra Spender, was on display.

In a sign of just how close this contest is, Sharma approached and engaged with voters holding Greens material while waiting to vote.

A majority of the voters the Guardian observed at the Bondi Junction prepoll centre on Monday skewed towards a more mature demographic that instinctively took Liberal how-to-vote cards. After all, the seat has been held by the Liberals since 1901 for all bar seven months.

But many nearby workers used their lunch break to vote and some, such as Petra O'Neill, a Paddington hospitality worker, aren't backing Sharma. She said she would be working on the Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Perth on 21 May, and therefore cast her vote early on Monday. She voted for Spender.

O'Neill voted for Sharma at the 2019 election but says the absence of the prime minister Scott Morrison during the Black Summer bushfires and his record on climate action has swayed her vote.

She said Spender was difficult for working-class residents to relate to, but would ultimately serve this demographic better than Sharma and a Coalition government.

"I voted for Allegra, but she comes from a very privileged background. I don't think she's had as much experience as say, Zali Steggall, but the Liberals have done absolutely nothing for us. I have no faith in ScoMo," O'Neill said.

Sarah* said she thought Sharma and Spender - and the Liberal and Labor parties - had "good ideas and policies". But she ultimately voted for Sharma "because I went with who would benefit me more and with the Liberals it's going to be better for me in terms of income tax".

Luke*, who lives near the southern boundary of Wentworth, towards Randwick, said he voted for Sharma because he thought the Liberal party was better at economic management.

"The Liberals will be better for me as a business owner," he said. Asked if Spender's policies on climate action appealed to him, Luke said "climate is very important to me, especially with daughters, but managing the country is really important too".

"It was balancing those issues and I think I voted for someone who has a party that can actually win the election."

Malcolm Smith, a Bondi Junction local, was one voter not swayed by corflutes and volunteers handing out flyers for Sharma and Spender. The self-described "crypto hound" voted for the United Australia party candidate Natalie Dumer.

He preferenced Sharma ahead of Spender because he followed the UAP how-to-vote material.

"The other parties let us down over the past two and a half years, so I had to give it to somebody outside of the two-party system," Smith said.

"I never thought I'd actually vote for Clive Palmer or someone like Pauline Hanson, but I just don't think we've been able to have discussions about Covid.

"Einstein said madness is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result - and I'm fed up with the two parties we've only ever had in government."

Both candidates were handing out how-to-vote material and talking to voters on Monday. Spender was also handing out Minties and Freddo frogs to her small army of volunteers wearing teal-coloured T-shirts.

Across Sydney Harbour in the electorate of North Sydney, the Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman was on Monday attempting to win over voters at the Northside Conference Centre in St Leonards.

Zimmerman, a moderate, holds the seat with a 9.3% margin but is under threat because the federal Liberal party and Morrison are considered on the nose.

Both Zimmerman and the Labor candidate, Catherine Renshaw, greeted voters at the entrance to the voting centre. Climate 200-backed independent Kylea Tink is the favoured challenger, but was isolating with Covid on Monday.

Tink and another prominent candidate, Victor Kline of the TNL party (formerly known as the New Liberals), had several volunteers handing out material.

Of the voters the Guardian observed at the centre, a significant chunk took only Labor how-to-vote material, and recognised Renshaw from her campaign.

But Andy*, a business owner in St Leonards, said he voted for Zimmerman because he thought a Liberal government would be better for his manufacturing business. "It's not anything against Labor policy, but it's because we've been able to achieve a lot the past two years," he said.

Waverton voter Harriet* lives in Zimmerman's old flat, but that connection was not enough to sway her decision on Monday. She voted for Tink.

"I know Trent is a nice guy, but the poor bugger happens to belong to the wrong party. This is the party where the assistant minister for women went to an anti-abortion rally," Harriet said, referring to Amanda Stoker.

"The intellectual and ethical standard between the two major parties, especially with ScoMo, is beyond repugnant. I just want to see the guy humiliated, because there seems to be this ongoing persecution of anyone who didn't go to the right school or who isn't a straight male."

*Some voters requested their surnames not be published.