(Image: Private Media)

It’s a rare, sunny Saturday morning at a shabby community centre in the electorate of Mackellar and early voters have scored the trifecta. They’re shopping across the road at the bustling Warriewood mall, arriving in droves to do their democratic duty while watching the kids play soccer in the muddy adjoining fields.  

This is the busiest pre-polling station on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, expecting 22,000 voters through the doors before it’s all on in earnest next week (although numbers have been way down. It’s the weather. It’s been vile).

The election cosplay in the car park is everything you’d imagine. Liberal, independent, Greens and UAP in club colours — all jostling for hearts and minds. Prams and strollers with small kids. Even smaller dogs in arms. And everyone whispering: “How do you think it’s going?”

It’s all good-natured banter, but you can sense there’s a lot at stake here. The temperature is rising in Mackellar. By late afternoon the cops have been called.

The carpark at the Nelson Heather community centre is where incumbent MP, Liberal Jason Falinski, has been choosing to spend his time since pre-polling opened — even, he says, pulling 12-hour shifts from 8am until 8pm.

His main rival, independent Dr Sophie Scamps, needs a swing of 13.3% to unseat him, but Falinski is taking nothing for granted. His team is far outnumbered by what he calls the Scamps “juggernaut”.

After chatting to voters for a bit, a Greens volunteer hares up to me, insisting I “go look”. I follow the sound of raised voices to find Falinski in a heated argument with two women. One, who tells me her name is Steph, 25, is loudly protesting as Falinski looms over her. She’s wearing a T-shirt that reads “Bin Him” with a pic of ScoMo on it.

The exchange has clearly been going for a bit, but this is what I record:

Steph: “I am so sick of being abused every time I come here. It’s disgusting.”

Falinski: “Why won’t you tell the truth?”

Steph: “I have told the truth.”

Falinski: “You’re spitting at me!” (This is utter rubbish and I tell Falinski so.)

Steph: “Please grow up and leave me alone.”

Falinski: “No.”

Steph: (turning to me) “I don’t have to be abused every day by him. Or abused by his staff… I’ve had it. I’m appalled. I shouldn’t have to come here every day and fear for my safety. He is a grown man. I don’t need anyone bullying me.”

At issue for Falinski is Steph’s flyer, headlined: “How fake ‘moderate’ Falinski votes”. It’s authorised by smartvoting.com.au. 

He’s insistent that the claims made about him on the flyer are false. In particular the statement: “Jason Falinski voted against debating a bill that would ban oil and gas drilling off the Northern Beaches.”

(Actually, this claim is correct. In October last year, Falinski, with fellow Liberal MPs Lucy Wicks, Trent Zimmerman and Dave Sharma, voted to gag debate on independent Zali Steggall’s private members’ bill: Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Stopping PEP11) Bill, 2012.)

This morning Falinski is agitated and demands to know who is paying Steph to be here. For her part, Steph says “her cousin” (who’s name I can’t quite decipher from the recording) has asked her to come. “It’s a personal thing” and nobody’s business but hers, she insists.

They both stand down, but this isn’t over.

Later that afternoon, police from Dee Why will attend. Eye-witness accounts of what transpires will blow up on Facebook. Out of the fray, I spy a face that looks familiar wearing a fire-engine-red T-shirt. Turns out it’s Barrie Unsworth, former Labor premier of NSW in the late ’80s and dubbed “Cardie Barrie” for his love of the knitted garment. He’s a campaigner from another era.

Now 88 years old (and sans cardigan; “it’s too hot”), he acknowledges the Labor Party has no hope in Mackellar. He’s here for the Senate vote.

“There are a lot of Labor voters here and people are pleased to see someone handing out for Labor. A vote here is as good for the Senate as anywhere else in the state,” he says. He’s always been an Albanese fan and quietly confident for the win. “No ‘gotcha’ questions, thank you,” he warns.

I speak to a dozen or so voters and they cover the spectrum. Party faithfuls. Many looking for a change. Some just here to avoid the fine and get the whole exercise over and done with.

My favourite punter is Brian, 58, software engineer, originally from Glasgow. He’s that unicorn who’ll make his up his mind depending how persuasive the pitch is from the spruikers in that final 20 metres from his car to the booth.

“I’ve tuned out completely. I’m bored with it. When I pick up the pencil, I’ll finally decide.”

When he emerges, 10 minutes later, turns out he’s voted independent. “I just decided not Labor, Liberal or Nationals.”

If Brian can be convinced in the space of a carpark? That may be a clue to the febrile atmosphere here. All volunteers are hoping for more of “Brian the Undecided”.

“Everyone here seems to be losing their cool,” says the duty officer at the Dee Why Police Station when I call on Sunday to find more on the afternoon’s incident. 

He directs me to NSW Police media.

“About 3pm yesterday (Saturday 14 May 2022), officers from Northern Beaches Police Area Command attended a pre-polling booth in Warriewood following reports two women were harassing a volunteer. 

Police spoke to the women — aged 25 and 31 — before issuing them a move-on direction. They complied and left the area. Inquiries continue.”

The complaint came from Falinski’s camp. His media adviser issues the following:

“Smart Voting Activists at Warriewood polling booth yesterday intimated [sic] and harassed a volunteer handing out ‘how to vote’ sheets for Jason Falinski. The volunteer reported the incident to the AEC Returning Officer for the booth. The officer advised that the volunteer should call the police, which they did. The police arrived, they moved on the activists and are now investigating the incident.”

Eye-witness Selina Todd, 53, single mum of three and a worker in aged care and disability in neighbouring suburb Ingleside, tells me she was there and saw what went down.  

“The women were not looking for a fight,” she says. “They were just sitting there quietly. Falinski was there, puffing out his chest. I told him, ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself, speaking to those young women the way you just did’.”

Todd alleges that Falinski retorted: “What kind of role model are you?”

Selina shares a lengthy letter she’s composed and plans to send to the newspapers: “As have most women, I have experienced intimidation and bullying from men on occasion, and now refuse to stand by when men do this. 

“In my time, I’ve watched many of my clients die. I have worked in extremely difficult and sad situations. I have always treated them with the respect and compassion they deserve.

“I don’t claim to be much, but I think I’ve done more for the people of Mackellar and Warringah than you [Falinski] ever will.

“This is why I’m proud to say that I voted for independent candidate Dr Sophie Scamps on that day.” 

Selina signs off a conversation with me confirming that she’s not a member of a political party.

Big trouble. Little Mackellar.

Only days to go now!