Federal election
Mr KENNEDY (Hawthorn) (10:00): Hawthorn hosted the two weeks of pre-polling in the federal electorate of Kooyong. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet many of my constituents and receive feedback and suggestions for the future. Indeed to the often long queues I cheerily proclaimed, ‘Welcome to the Labor seat of Hawthorn, where after nearly four years the sky has not fallen in and there is no sign of the dreaded gridlock, as warned by the Liberal propaganda machine’. One is used to Liberals having access to hefty campaign funds for advertising and paid assistance, including some carrying billboards, if you please, on their backs. Josh Frydenberg appeared to have well over $2 million at his disposal. Refreshingly a second group led by Monique Ryan as independent appeared on the scene with large numbers of volunteers and corflutes. Whilst I have a real problem with unlimited expenditure on campaigns, it was heartwarming to witness the emergence of a second group with similar material resources. I congratulate Monique Ryan and commiserate with Josh Frydenberg in second place, our own Peter Lynch in third and the other eight who put their hats in the ring. It was a great day, and I just think of that person who saw all of those teal people and said, ‘Who are these people?’. Indeed.