Daryl Hodson, 55, said what a lot of us are probably thinking after six weeks of an election campaign.
“I really couldn’t have another week of this campaign,” he told TND. “I’ve had enough.”
So it is with relief, albeit apprehension, that the time has come for us to decide the future of our nation.
For TND’s undecided voters’ panel, not voting for Scott Morrison and the Liberals was the easier decision. Figuring out if Anthony Albanese and Labor deserved their votes was what troubled them.
Who would do right by the country and its people?
Ahead of what will undoubtedly be an interesting election night, here is what our once-undecided voters have decided on.
Ming Johanson
40, small business owner
Electorate: Swan (WA)
Voting history: Swing voter
Voting issues: Small businesses, cost of living, aged care
TND: Have you made a decision?
Ms Johanson has already voted.
“I’ve gone to vote early today [Friday]. I accidentally unconsciously chose an outfit that perfectly represents my position.
Ms Johanson shared a picture of herself wearing a red T-shirt with “Robocop riding a unicorn for magical justice”.
“I didn’t realise I was wearing Labor Red until I got to polling.
“I am aware that I am going into this year’s election to ‘vote out’ a Liberal Party that has continued to make promises and not keep them.
“The ‘take money out of your imposed retirement fund because we can’t do our job’ to buy a house is the single worst, last-minute, last-ditch effort to connect with the middle-income workers of Australia.
“What I’ve been fatigued the most about is the media (mainly Sky News and Murdoch press) trying to ‘gotcha’ politicians. It’s boring and tiresome.”
Marcus Horne
78, retired
Electorate: Hunter (NSW)
Voting history: Liberal
Voting issues: Aged care, climate, employment, budget
TND: Have you made a decision?
“Yes, I have. I’m going to go Independent.
“I don’t believe I can trust the Coalition, I’m so disappointed in them. I know I’ve said that before, but that hasn’t changed. I think that when I read the list of misrepresentations or falsehoods or straight-out lies that keep coming out of the leadership – it’s not very convincing to me.
“And I don’t know if the Labor Party has the finesse or the knowledge or experience to handle what’s going on.
“It’s going to be an electorate by electorate battle, I think. The leaders are trying to visit as many electorates that might swing. I don’t think we’ve seen an election like this for a long, long time, and I don’t know if we’ll see it again for a long, long time.
“I think it’s probably time for a dose of good socialist policies because we’ve had a lot of the trickledown economics for a long time, which I think has put us in a very parlous situation, economy-wise. And I think a little bit of socialist remedy wouldn’t go astray. How’s that for a mixture?!
“I don’t think either [major party] has done enough to earn my vote. And that’s not me being precious, I just can’t really see that either of them deserves to have support.”
Matthew Gibson
39, plant inspector (oil and gas industry)
Electorate: Currumbin (QLD)
Voting issues: Integrity, younger generations
TND: Have you made a decision?
Mr Gibson has already voted.
“I was thinking that Scott Morrison probably just needs to go. He needs to go. And that’s the best chance we have of hopefully having more of a progressive and less corrupt and more integral government.
“I thought the Labor [campaign] was really weak. It was disappointing, you know? And you’ve got to give it to the Liberals, and particularly Scott Morrison – he was really aggressive.
“I think they were far better than Labor at campaigning. It amazes me that Labor didn’t go with the lack of integrity from the Liberals’ front bench and attack that. I have no idea why they left that out, I didn’t hear much of it anyway. I think that could have been something they could have used.
“It’s really disappointing, but I do think the Liberals are going to get back in. I just think the fear – I think people are buying into the fear campaign.”
Cathy Trussell
80, retired
Electorate: Light (SA)
Voting history: Liberal
Voting issues: Environment
TND: Have you made a decision?
“My vote hasn’t changed. I am still voting for Anthony Albanese.
“Although he stumbles a lot in interviews and question time, I am sure that his ability for the role is intact.
“When I vote this time, I will be far more decisive and confident in my choice due to the fact the coverage from media was – a bit naughty sometimes – but very good.
“Unfortunately, Scott Morrison’s behaviour from day one of his prime ministership, and throughout his reign, didn’t improve and [he] actually got more bombastic, rude and arrogant so that it was difficult to see him in a good light.
“Peter Dutton also was a carbon copy of Scott Morrison and between them both, in my opinion, [they] have done a great disservice to Australia and its people.
“The election campaign overall was OK, but it’s really hard to listen when you feel most of the time they are [being] untruthful.
“But I am now looking forward to Australia making peace with China, Hong Kong and countries who are advocating for action on climate change.”
Daryl Hodson
55, farm maintenance supervisor
Electorate: Bendigo (VIC)
Voting history: Swing voter
Voting issues: Cost of living, younger generations, social and economic infrastructure particularly in regional areas, climate
TND: Have you made a decision?
“I’ll probably vote Labor when I get into the polling booth.
“The Labor Party have built some good policies. The childcare one will be good if they can pull it off. If they can reduce the cost of childcare, that would be a huge benefit and plus, getting women back to work or women back to work more – a lot of women cut their hours after they have a child – would be a good policy.
“And housing, they’ve both got a housing policy. Economists have criticised both, but the Labor model looks a little more realistic. And it has worked in other parts of the world.
“Whereas, the Liberal Party is saying you can access your super and I’m a bit suspicious of that. I don’t think that’s such a good idea, because I think the people who are accessing their super are the ones who are really going to need as much super as they can get when they reach retirement age.
“Dipping into their super is a little bit risky, I think. And a lot of people in that first homebuyer age bracket will probably deplete any super they have.
“But other than that, I really couldn’t have another week of this campaign. I’ve had enough.
“I hope I’m doing the right thing, and whoever forms government next week, if it’s clear, they’ll have a really difficult job. I think it’s probably the most difficult period of time an Australian government is going to have to deal with.
“Whoever we vote for, we’re going to have to really hope they try and do the right thing.”
David Watkins
75, teacher
Electorate: Fisher (QLD)
Voting history: Swing voter
Voting issues: A competent leader, COVID-19 management, defence, public housing, education
TND: Have you made a decision?
Mr Watkins has already voted.
“I changed my mind a little bit. What I ended up doing was, because I couldn’t vote for ScoMo, I ended up voting Greens as first preference and the ALP as a second preference, which is effectively a vote for the ALP anyway. And my first two votes in the Senate were for Labor.
“I’ve never liked the Greens very much, but after talking to quite a few people, including my older son and also my wife, I decided to vote Greens. They actually were pretty much aligned with most of my thoughts.
“What put me off Labor was this one thing … Yesterday [Wednesday], I saw Labor came out and said they would be banning live-exported sheep.
“I’ve worked in country areas for a huge amount of my teaching time. I got to empathise a lot with country people, and I was listening to Bob Katter saying that although we don’t have sheep in Queensland, we’re not a sheep-producing country, we do have heaps of cattle. And they do live-exported cattle. And he said if they get away with stopping live-exported sheep, the next thing they’ll want to do is stop live-exported cattle. And he said that’s going to happen over his dead body.
“Then I thought this is what happened last time in the election. In the last election, Labor lost in Queensland because they said they were going to stop coal mining. That killed it in Queensland and that killed the Labor Party. And I think they’ve just done the same thing now. I think they might end up losing, which would be a terrible thing.”
