Liberals keen to secure victory in Bennelong facing risk due to lack of trust

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Sydney’s north-west marginal seat of Bennelong is dripping in blue.

As you drive through the electorate, Liberal candidate Scott Yung’s face is plastered across trucks, on the back of volunteer T-shirts and prominently displayed on corflutes attached to the front of countless homes.

It’s indicative of the Coalition’s desire to flip the seat, which Labor’s Jerome Laxale secured by just 1,954 votes in 2022.

Given voting patterns in the past, the party hopes a redistribution triggered by the abolition of North Sydney will hand it the seat, which is now notionally Liberal with a 0.04 margin.

But as SBS News took to the streets, it found support among even the most loyal of Liberal voters could be on a knife’s edge.

Long-time Liberal voters divided

Lifelong Liberal voter Chen, who did not want to provide his full name, said he had to change his vote this election due to frustration with the Coalition, which he described as “all talk”.

“I changed, I don’t vote Liberal anymore,” he told SBS News in Eastwood.

Because Peter Dutton, I don’t trust him, the way he talks. ‘Oh, I do this, I do that’. Yeah? Back it up mate.

are key concerns for Chen, and he appeared irritated with the Coalition’s ostensible inability to answer questions directly.

“[Labor] is so far so good. I mean the other party, just talk … they don’t give you the actual answer. Like , they don’t tell you how much you will have to pay.”

A man in a navy matching tracksuit, with a red microphone held up to his face.

Jason in Bennelong finds Opposition leader Peter Dutton too divisive. Source: SBS News / Rania Yallop

Another Bennelong resident, Jason, was concerned about the cost of living and his mind was even more made up.

“I want to vote for anyone but . He’s divisive, I think he’s a little racist and he’s got no policies,” he said.

While was “a nice guy”, he said ultimately “he could do more”.

“I think both are just as bad as one another, so I’ve got to vote for the lesser evil.”

Bennelong ‘could go either way’

Shaun Ratcliff, a political scientist from research firm Accent Research, said Bennelong’s diverse population made it an interesting contest.

“Certainly the seat could go either way,” he told SBS News.

The electorate has a large multicultural population, with around one in five voters reporting Chinese ancestry.

It also includes reasonably affluent areas such as Hunter Hills — the waterfront suburb actor Cate Blanchett once called home — Lane Cove and Greenwich.

The Coalition is hoping traditional Liberal voters like Mark will help secure the seat.

“Too much debt, we’re running up too much debt. I think the Liberals will address that, they always have,” Mark said.

A blue Liberal corflute is positioned on the ground, as volunteers hand out Liberal how to vote cards.

Liberal candidate Scott Yung hands out how to vote cards in North Ryde, part of the hotly contested seat of Bennelong. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts

Sharon, who has also always voted Liberal, said she is still making up her mind.

“The thing I’m most concerned about is young people getting onto the market … [] didn’t sway one way or another,” she said in Lane Cove.

While critical of the timing of , she ultimately reveals she’ll still vote for the party.

“I’ll probably still vote Liberal because they tend to be more conservative and better with the budget,” Sharon said.

Candidates dismiss controversy during tight race

The contest for Bennelong has not been without controversy, with Yung appearing to distance himself from the Liberal Party during the final week of campaigning.

The Australian Financial Review reports that an ad launched on the Chinese social media platform WeChat highlighted the 32-year-old as an “independent” thinker, unafraid to criticise Liberal party leaders.

It comes amid reports that Yung recently criticised Dutton at a local polling booth, which the candidate has denied.

Wearing a grey suit, Anthony Albanese hands out red Labor how-to-vote cards at an early polling booth.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese helped hand out how-to-vote cards with Jerome Laxale in the final week in a bid to boost support for Labor in the marginal seat of Bennelong. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Yung has also been forced to defend his campaign costs after celebrity endorsements during his 2019 state election run cast doubt over whether he had broken guidelines around disclosing free campaign advertising.

Meanwhile, incumbent candidate Jerome Laxale was forced to apologise on behalf of his father.

Footage obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald reportedly revealed Laxale’s father Alan taunting a Liberal volunteer at a polling booth, suggesting he was gay.

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