Ash Laing is a budding voter. Since being a part of the Pub Test, he has made an effort to take more notice of what's going on with politics and already his views have changed.
The 20-year-old hospitality worker has lived in Canberra his whole life and says politics was never something he took notice of except being "really bored" in line when his parents went to vote.
Now, he has enrolled for the first time and keeps tabs of what has gone on this week to have more say.
Ash tuned into Wednesday's debate between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and it shifted his preference for a Labor win over the Liberals in the election.
"Morrison definitely had better responses to the questions but he came off seeming very scripted," he said.
Comparatively, Ash found the Labor leader was "better off the cuff". Even if he was "caught off guard" at times, Ash appreciated Mr Albanese's responses revolving "around longer-term plans".
"I do think watching that debate kind of swung me, if I did have to make my decision today, it kind of swung me in the way of voting for Albanese and Labor," he said.
Ash's connection to Canberra has grown through the years and until now, politics was hardly a part of his life.
"Up until the last few years I didn't really think much of Canberra, like I didn't enjoy living here very much, but I've really come to appreciate Canberra," Ash said.
"In the last couple years I've surrounded myself with a really great community of people."
'Isolated myself from the world'
Currently Ash works in two hospitality venues, one at Badger and Co and another at the Canberra Theatre Centre as a bartender and usher, which he described as a fantastic experience at this point in his life.
The pandemic was a challenging period as he experienced "a lot of social isolation" during lockdown.
"I definitely isolated myself from the world quite a bit during lockdown and unintentionally, it was quite a negative thing to do," he said.
"I just love having that human interaction, human connection and having positive interactions with everybody. That's been the best part of having a hospitality job."
He hopes to save for travel and put a lot of "thought into what he would like to get out over an overseas trip".
Finding a community
Ash's connection to community was born from mobility training at Casuarina Sands, where "a big group of amazing people" wake up early to complete exercises that involve flexibility, balance and strength.
"I found my own little niche with the program I'm following in particular, I sort of went off and explored some of the ideas, found this program and now I've really delved into it," he said.
"It just makes me feel more comfortable in my own body, really, because I can do things that I otherwise wouldn't be able to do.
"You need to be very mobile and flexible to do some of the things like picking up rocks and turn down the beach. I think a lot of mobility training was inspired by just being able to get through those sessions."
Independent candidate for the Senate in the ACT, David Pocock, is a part of the training sessions Ash attends. Ash described Pocock as an "amazing" mentor.
"He seems like such a selfless character who just is a great person to be around," he said.
"I would say just everything I'm doing today is really a product of the people and the places I spent my time in over the last few years."
Week two - voters have their say
This week most of the Pub Test panel tuned into the debate, as Raelene Dunstall described the reaction to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comments about being blessed to have children without disabilities "blown out of proportion".
"I think the more important issue was actually the Chinese and Solomon Islands issue," she said.
Jeff Bollard thought even though Mr Albanese won the debate, he "thinks the Liberals will probably get through again" come the election.
When it comes to making a choice between the two leaders, Jeff still says he would prefer Mr Morrison even though the key issue he cares about right now is universal health care which Labor is promoting, saying he would rather a "third candidate" option.
"I don't think the Labor party's got the strongest line-up of people compared with what they've had in the past ... but there's a lot of stuff I don't like about Scott Morrison as well," he said.
Bri Williams predicts there will be a hung parliament due to all the attention independents have been getting and the traditional parties haven't been giving "the answers that we need" according to the conversations she's been having with others.
At this stage of the election, Jim Macdougall still has not had time to pay much attention to what's gone on, but has observed more corflute signs popping up over the week.
"I'm seeing David Pocock's face much more often which, I mean, I'm not sad about, to be honest," he said.
