“Normally it’s the queue at Bourke Street Bakery that’s this long” joked one of the people handing out how to vote cards at Bourke Street Primary School this morning. I decided to vote early this morning, thinking the earlier I got in, the more chance I’d have of avoiding a lengthy queue, since Surry Hills isn’t (to my eyes) a community of early risers. How wrong I was.
On top of that, they’ve changed the electoral boundaries, and I’ve been redistributed into the seat of Newtown, , as I’ve previously written about. In previous elections, there’s always been a high rate of absentee voters at this polling booth (due to the large number of people living in rented accommodation and often moving about) which has meant locals were quickly moved to the front of the line. But this time it’s different with local voters forming the large majority of the queue, and it’s the voters of Heffron and Sydney (the neighbouring electorates) who were brought to the front of the queue.
Voting at Bourke Street Primary School
The wait wasn’t too bad, I guess. Maybe twenty minutes? There were times when I thought I might give up and come back later, but I decided to stay around, sniffing the smell of the bacon and egg, sausage etc sandwiches at the stall being run to support the primary school was too great. Unfortunately the coffee wasn’t ready (Bills Blend by Single Origin – hey, it’s Surry Hills) by the time I made my way in to vote. But as I came out, it all seemed to be pumping along nicely. The school also has some very nice cupcakes which made the wait well worth it.
Saturday Night At My Place Ten years ago I was out and about, enjoying Sydney’s nightlife, in all its variety. Now it’s a glass of wine, takeaway Japanese, a computer and watching #nswvotes
“So that’s what you do for a living?”, a family member commented yesterday. Aside from presenting radio programs, she finally understood my role as an editorial manager. Well, kinda.
I have a job title that is often misunderstood, “Manager, Planning for Regional and Local”. I regularly get recommendations on LinkedIn for a whole range of jobs, often around infrastructure. When my job title was previously, “Manager, Network Planning”, I would often get recommendations around IT. I manage a “radio station network, not an IT network” I would often tell people, assuming I was the person who might purchase computer routers.
My job has a wide brief, from actually making radio, to workforce and technology planning. And I also have a “brief” around planning for major events. These events range from those you don’t expect, such as changes of Prime Minister to those you do expect, such as ANZAC Day. New Year’s Eve, Australian Of The Year and… the inevitable death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The “dirty little secret” of almost every media organisation in the world is the planning that’s been occurring behind the scenes, which includes everything from pre-prepared obituaries and even rehearsals.
It’s something you don’t want to talk about publicly, as it can seem a little ghoulish, but it’s something you need to do. And when you’re talking about someone who has led such a public life for such a long-time, there’s no shortage of material. You also want to get the “tone” right. You don’t want to be “fawning”, as the coverage could be inclined, but you also don’t want to be unduly disrespectful.
We did a few “rehearsals”, and I recall there was one where the presenters sounded a little too “excited”. While there was an expectation the story would be about a death of an aged woman after a period of illness, there was also the possibility of a much more “public” death. #diana There were also rehearsals around how the coverage might differ due to COVID lockdowns.
I don’t remember exactly who gave this to me, but this has sat on my desk at work (and more recently at home), as a reminder of one of my many jobs. By the way, that’s not a drawn-on moustache, merely a bit of a scratch, due to time and ageing. Note the sticky tape, holding it together!!
And even in the midst of republican feeling, an idea the monarchy is a dated concept, there’s the reality she is the Queen of Australia with an official role.
So after all those years of planning, it happened quite suddenly on a Thursday night/Friday morning.
After the official statement of “serious concerns” for the health of the Queen, I went to sleep with BBC Radio playing on my laptop. I was waiting for the words “grave concerns” to know of the inevitability of it all. When the BBC TV presenters donned “black clothing” (as per their known plan) I knew something was up. Perhaps unconsciously (or maybe the sound of the radio entered my consciousness) I woke up about 10 minutes before the “official announcement”.
The next 12 hours were a hive of activity, as aspects of the plan were enacted.
A couple of former colleagues who were previously involved in the planning texted me on Friday morning wishing me all the best. I also received some lovely messages from colleagues and friends who knew about my involvement. “I’m tired, exhausted and having a beer, but your message gave me a much-needed smile”, I told one colleague who messaged me on Friday afternoon. I mentioned it was a “team effort”, and I was equally amazed at the work of colleagues both on air, and behind the scenes. In particular, the efforts of a colleague who had to book flights and accommodation for our team heading to London to cover the events over the next few weeks.
This is something I was particularly happy with. Conscious that pre-recorded “obituaries” can be problematic – the need for constant updates – I commissioned Jacob Round to go through the archives to tell the story of her life through her own words, and radio and TV broadcasts throughout time. It’s a wonderful collection. https://www.abc.net.au/sydney/collection/the-queen-in-her-own-words/101422600
Later in the day, after a nap, I was able to reflect on a couple of Queen-related intersections in my life.
In 2000. the Queen visited Bourke, NSW. Presenting “Statewide Drive” for ABC Radio at the time, I travelled to Bourke and did a live broadcast from the local community station, 2WEB. I had previously lived and worked there. And the show’s awesome producer, Jen Courtney was actually from Bourke. We stayed at the Outback Hotel, owned by Jen’s parents. For this special broadcast, we asked singer-songwriter, Merri-May Gill (who grew up outside Bourke) to pen a song about the Queen’s visit.
And in Lismore, itself, there are lots of Queen-related memories.
In 1954, the Queen visited Lismore and thousands turned out. She stayed overnight at the Gollan Hotel. According to mum and dad, she was spotted having a beer on the balcony. Days later, Lismore experienced the worst flood on record, and mum said everyone blamed her for it.
Years later, the Gollan still stands, though severely damaged in this year’s flood.
Until recently, the Gollan remained proud of its connection, with photographs on the wall, now presumably washed away. I snapped these shots a couple of years ago.
Hotel Gollan, LismoreHotel Gollan, LismoreHotel Gollan, Lismore
In another connection, a friend born and raised in Lismore, but now living in Sydney, told me this story.
My uncle was not the publican when the Queen was there in 1954. He was the following publican and hence the Queen’s stuff was still in the hotel when he took over. Hence I still have the pillows.
Fountain in Spink’s Park, LismoreFountain in Spink’s Park, Lismore
Ola at Schlager Night at Stockholm Pride 2008. Love the rainbow jacket, not so sure about the perm.
Today I would like to introduce you to my favourite Swedish pop star at the moment, Ola Svensson.
I first discovered his work when he was an entrant in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish finals leading to the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2008. I thought the song, Love in Stereo was “okay”. A few months later I saw him perform live at Stockholm Pride and, again, I thought he was “okay”.
He went from being “okay” to pretty fantastic when, two years later, he entered Melodifestivalen with the song “Unstoppable (The Return Of Natalie)” which was one of my favourite songs that year. It’s so incredibly catchy, and he performed it with such great enthusiasm.
Even now, I sing it from time to time. Heaven knows what my colleagues, or people on public transport make of it when they hear me singing along to lyrics like “Natalie keeps coming back from the dead again. She’s a little bit too much even for my friends. She’s just so unstoppable…”
Ola is now on the verge of international recognition, having released his latest song in the UK, and soon in the US, as well as a number of other European countries. Let’s hope it’s released in Australia also, as it’s a great song. Again, it has a a terrific singalong chorus.
So there you have it: an introduction to Ola Svensson. Enjoy! Smaklig måltid! (and yes I did mean to say that!).
About a decade ago, probably much longer, I remember a friend, Declan, declaring he was supporting England in the World Cup. He was a born and bred Irishman, who concluded that, since Ireland had been eliminated from the World Cup, he should probably support England instead.
“Don’t you remember what the English have done to us over hundreds of years?”, another Irish friend reminded him. “Don’t you remember The Famine? Don’t you remember the IRA?” they said to him. After a moment he reflected, “Yes, you have a point there…”
Even though my “local pub”, the Crown Hotel, has a fair contingent of Irish bar staff and customers, I’m pretty sure there were no Irish people present for the match on Saturday night/Sunday morning in support of the English football team. On top of that, I’m pretty sure I was the ONLY person at the pub supporting Sweden as they played England in the World Cup.
I doubt anyone in the pub knew the Swedish national anthem in the midst of such a resounding chorus of God Save The Queen.
On Twitter, a couple of Swedish friends applauded my bravery, wearing a Swedish football shirt in the midst of such a strong turnout for the English team.
“On the positive side, it’s my local pub so they’re serving me quickly.”, I told friends, to the reply “Are they pitying you?”
In the end, England were far too good, defeating Sweden 2-0, and deservedly so, as they played well against a largely defensive Swedish team.
But in the midst of it all, my thoughts went back to Declan (now deceased) and how he was prepared to go against the tide in a noisy pub of football fans.
I spoke on ABC Radio late tonight from China. As the transcript below explains, the program often features chats with ABC colleagues on their international travel. For my story, there was an added interesting angle: this was my first time travelling overseas as an amputee.
ABC Radio Nightlife Travel
Suzanne: You know, we like to chat to people around the world and people who go travelling around the world, and when any of our ABC colleagues happen to mention they’re going somewhere interesting, we’re always bugging them to chat to us from whatever location they’re in. And so it is that we come to speak tonight to James O’Brien who’s, well, one a very long-standing colleague of ours here at the ABC. He’s in China at the moment, and he’s joining us from China for a chat about what he’s been up to. And particularly as James has acquired a physical disability since the last time he went overseas, so it’s the first time he’s been overseas in this kind of new world that he’s inhabiting. So it’ll be really interesting to find out what that’s been like and what kind of challenges that’s presented. Hey James, welcome.
James: Hi Suzanne. I’m in a place called Wuxi in China. It’s quite a small town. It’s only eight million.
Suzanne: Right, small by Chinese standards.
James: Correct, yeah.
Suzanne: All right, so well I guess tell me why are you in China? What’s inspired you to go there?
James: Look, two years ago I went on an overseas holiday and I came back with an infection which led to a lower right limb amputation. And I’ve always been a great independent traveller. I love travel. I love overseas travel. And so I thought after a couple of years of rehabilitation it was probably time to think about what I could actually do. And I saw an awesome cheap deal to travel to China, and I’m sure lots of people have seen those ads, but I’m doing one of those tours. I chose this one for a couple of reasons: one of which is it’s super cheap. Secondly, because I’ve been to China twice previously, I thought if I go somewhere that is familiar and that I can prepare for, this overseas holiday on a group tour – but by myself, in a sense, as someone now with a physical disability – will be the way to go.
Suzanne: So what did you have to think about James when you were planning the trip that you’d never had to think about before?
James: Okay, so a bunch of stuff that I had to think about. First of all, to do some preparation. So I have a fortnightly session with a physiotherapist, so we’ve been talking about what I would need to prepare for this, and one of which is how many steps I would take every day. So normally I would take maybe seven or eight thousand steps each day. There was one day this week where we did 18,000 steps.
The other thing I needed to think about too was maybe cobblestones and uneven surfaces. So for example today we went into an old town called Suzhou in China which has lots of cobblestones, and also getting on and off boats, so I had to think about those sorts of things. I had to think about going through airport security, due to the fact that I not only have a prosthetic limb but I also, after a fall a few months ago, now have a full hip replacement – so you know, it doesn’t stop there.
So I had to think about those sorts of things. And for that in particular, I had to consider the size of some of the airports I’d be navigating, as some of the Chinese airports are pretty huge. And so the advice I was given was to ask for wheelchair support at the airport. So I was able to get wheelchair support at check-in at Sydney airport that took me through security, all of those sorts of things, all the way to the plane.
And then I think I also had to have a bit of a deep think for myself in terms of being on a group tour. So one of the things I was worried about was being maybe a bit of a burden. And I know that’s not a very good way to feel about having a disability, but I was worried that I would be slowing down everyone else and that I would be on the trip causing drama for people. So I had to think that really strongly through: whether or not I wanted to do this for myself, but also about the impact I might have on others.
Suzanne: Yeah, and so when you were booking the tour, were there some of those conversations you actually had with the company that you’re going with?
James: Yeah, absolutely. I explained the situation, and then I also explained to the airline I’m flying with. I rang them up and I said, first of all, that I need to get an aisle seat because that’s so much easier for me to get in and out of, and that I would like to have that seat all the way through. And they said, “What sort of disability do you have?” I told them what it was, hilariously, and they said, “Is it permanent?” I said, “Yes, it’s not growing back.” So yeah, I had those conversations all the way through.
Suzanne: Wow, did you find though, once you kind of took the initiative there and did that, James, that you were able to ensure that everything worked smoothly? Or were there some points you arrived at where you thought, “Well, no one’s handled this,” or, “Now I’m in some trouble?”
James: Yeah, but one of the things I also did was a lot of research beforehand about the hotels where we were staying – things like where is the nearest shopping centre, where are the nearest restaurants, all of those sorts of things. So I did more research than I would normally do, just so I knew, for example, where I’m staying tonight there was a shopping centre across the road, so I was able to go over and get a few things earlier tonight, which was good.
There were things that I’ve been very lucky with. So for example, when I have a shower, I generally speaking sit on a plastic chair because taking my prosthetic limb on and off is, you know, it’s hard. And so when I have a shower, I sit down, and then I have to put the limb back on and so on. So, at one of the hotels, for example, I showed them in Chinese characters that I’m an amputee and needed a shower stool, and I was able to get a stool within, you know, half an hour, which was great. But the hotel I’m staying in tonight, they said they just don’t have this at all, so that’s sort of something where I’ll have a shower tomorrow night, fingers crossed.
But then the other thing is too, you know, just keeping an eye out for things. Like, there are lots of things in Australia we see now all the time – there is always a wheelchair ramp, there are always lifts close by, and all those sorts of things. So many of those things don’t actually exist in China to the same extent they do in Australia. So there have been a couple of times when I’ve, you know, had to really go slowly upstairs or downstairs and so on. So there are a few little things, but then there are some things I just didn’t know would happen which are really positive.
So for example, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City – we went there on Wednesday and managed 18,000 steps. It was also quite a warm day, and I found that it was quite hard going, to be honest, but I managed to get through it. But there were three older people on the tour who were able to get wheelchair support. So as part of our group – there were 40 of us in the group – there were three people in wheelchairs, and they paid for that, you know, out of their own money, but that was something which I didn’t know that you could get. Halfway through the day, I thought, “Well, maybe I should have got the wheelchair support,” but you know, in the end, it was fine.
Suzanne: You did your 18,000 steps! So James, let’s now talk about some of the things you’ve seen, because I know there’s a great big Dragon Boat Festival on at the moment. Tell us about that and what you’ve seen of it.
James: Okay, so it’s a national holiday here in China at the moment. It’s the Dragon Boat Festival. And look, I’ve seen Dragon Boat races and all that sort of stuff in Sydney, but I didn’t even actually know what the Dragon Boat story is. So the Dragon Boat story is this, and it’s really interesting: a couple of thousand years ago, there was a Chinese poet who was feeling quite disillusioned about the government at the time, and who threw himself in the river and committed suicide. And so what the Dragon Boat Festival reenacts is a search for his body. And what they also do for this holiday is that they eat sticky rice. So they throw the sticky rice into the water so that the fish will eat it and not his body. So it’s a really – look, I didn’t know that story before.
So that’s happening today. There were huge crowds; we were in a city called Suzhou earlier today, and the crowds were pretty intense. It was pretty much like any Australian sort of public holiday. You know, lots of people out, eating all sorts of things. It lacked the level of alcohol consumption that I think we often have with our holidays here. But you know, there’s some great food. I had some Shanghai dumplings for lunch, and you know, so it’s a really great festival. It’s a three-day festival, and basically, all it means is that, you know, government departments are closed, some of the bigger shops, some of the small shops are closed. But at the supermarket, at the shopping centre near where I’m staying tonight, everything was open, and it was huge.
Suzanne: Now James, you mentioned you’d been to China a couple of times before. We’re talking to James O’Brien, who’s one of my colleagues here at the ABC. Has it changed a lot from the couple of times that you’ve been there before?
James: Yeah, a couple of things are quite different, just for me as someone living now with a physical disability. So I walked the Great Wall of China twice before, and you know, when I was a youngster I could get up the hill and, you know, do all sorts of crazy things and go through various forts and so on. I just couldn’t do that this time because it’s just physically so much harder for me – for instance, at the Great Wall, there were lots of steps I couldn’t manage this time, but it was still a terrific experience.
So, you know, being a little bit older, I just took a more sanguine attitude towards things, to say, “Well, I can’t do that anymore. What can I do?” And I can do the smaller things, and there’s great pleasure in the small things, I think. So for example, I had one young guy, an Australian guy actually, say, “Hey mate, you’re fantastic, that’s so good that you’re doing this.” And I said to him, “The best thing is you take it more slowly and you see a lot more.” So I think that’s a really interesting thing about the times before when I’ve been here. Taking it more slowly, you see a little bit more, which is good. And also you chat to more people along the way than if I was trying to run to the top of the hill, you know, in some sort of race with everyone else.
The other really interesting thing is money. So for example, it was very much a cash society when I was last here in 2014, and it’s now very much a cashless society. So for example, I think I might have paid cash maybe once in the last few days because I couldn’t use my Alipay. So Alipay is an app, and there’s also a WeChat app, and you link your credit card to them and you just pay through scanning. Look, it’s not dissimilar from tap-and-go, but that’s a significant change here.
The other really significant change I think I’ve seen is electric vehicles everywhere. So you know, 10 years ago there were lots of cars, diesel, pollution, noise, and so on. So some of the cities we’ve been to over the last few days have been rather quiet because it’s all electric vehicles.
Suzanne: Wow, because we know China’s making a lot of them, James.
James: Yeah, we know China’s making a lot of them, but they’re driving them too. Yeah, I also noticed, I mean, so far we’ve been to Wuxi, Suzhou, and Beijing, and there are fewer bicycles and more motorbikes, is an observation I would make. And also lots of flash cars too.
Suzanne: James, thanks so much for joining us from China to tell us a bit about your trip and just, I guess, the experience of getting out there in a kind of very different phase of life. Does this give you more confidence that you’ll go travelling more overseas in the future again?
James: Absolutely. And there have been two other people on the trip, two women who are in their late 70s, and, to be honest, they have physical health problems themselves. They’re both quite overweight with limited mobility and so on, and they’ve been really quite inspiring. For instance, I was chatting to them today, and they’ve plotted out travel for the next two or three years. So yes, it gives me confidence that I can do it, that I won’t be a burden on other people. But it’s really important just to research and to talk to people and to get some sense of what you’re getting yourself involved in.
Suzanne: Well James, we will hear more when we see you in the office again, but thanks so much for sharing a bit of your story with our listeners tonight.
For many, the narrative of limb loss is defined by the clinical reality of surgery and the physical grind of rehabilitation. For Nish Afinwala, an IT professional in Perth, the story is far more internal—a journey that began with a life-threatening medical crisis and culminated in a profound spiritual awakening.
Born in India and raised in Tanzania, he moved to Australia in 2006 to complete his masters, eventually falling in love with the country and settling in Western Australia. Life was “smooth” until a genetic heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, began to obstruct his blood flow.
In 2018, he underwent open-heart surgery, but complications arose. “The blood flow from my heart, it started seeping into my lungs and I was struggling to breathe,” he recalls. To save his life, doctors placed him on an ECMO machine. While the machine kept his heart pumping, it compromised blood flow to his extremities. On 18 April 2018, doctors performed an above-knee amputation on his left leg to prevent sepsis.
The two years following his initial discharge were a “vicious cycle” of medical instability. While his left leg was gone, Nish fought desperately to save his right leg, which had suffered muscle loss from ischemia. “It was me holding on to it, thinking that, no, I need to salvage, I need to salvage,” he says.
However, the right leg remained an open wound. “That whole year in twenty nineteen, I kept on getting infection every three months,” Nish explains. “I go back, they put me on antibiotics. I go back again home, I have infection, I come back”.
The physical toll led to a spiritual and emotional breaking point. “I was so much depressed… why am I going through infection every three months? And why am I going through this depression and anxiety?”. During these months, Nish was surrounded by symbols of his upbringing, yet he felt a growing sense of emptiness.
Nish came from a Hindu background. “My bed had all the idols… I had a picture of Jesus Christ as well… but I was so lost in my own issues and in my own world of losing my legs”.
The turning point arrived in mid-2020. A non-Christian friend visited Nish “out of nowhere” and pulled a Bible from his bag. Initially, Nish’s mind was switched off: “I just rejected. And I said, ‘you know, take, take the take the Bible back. I don’t want to disrespect someone’s religion'”.
The very next day, Nish fell from his wheelchair while attempting to weight-bear on his weak right leg, resulting in a fracture. Returning to the hospital, he was told the right leg also required amputation. In that moment, he felt a “thought put in my head” to finally read the Bible. “I read the Bible and words like love, mercy, forgiveness where all, you know, talking to me,” he says. On the second day, he experienced a vision: “I saw a vision of the cross… I know that day I saw a vision of Jesus Christ. And, the very next day I accepted him as my Lord and Savior”.
Transitioning to life as a double amputee required a shift in perspective, especially regarding his family. His son, who was only two years old when the surgeries began, has only ever known Nish as an amputee. Nish recalls the heartbreak of his son once asking, “I wish daddy could grow a leg,” but now finds strength in their shared journey.
Nish initially returned to his career in IT, feeling a calling to change his work to “give back to the community”. He now works in IT in aged care specifically. “I’m able to give back to the community… they see me in a wheelchair and some some people are in a wheelchair as well. So I can give them a hope. Look, it’s not the end”.
Today, Nish views his challenges through a lens of “eternal hope”. He is trialling prosthetic legs and remains acutely aware of the support available in Australia. “I’m really grateful for this country, for NDIS, that they give us this opportunity,” he says.
He finds peace in surrendering the need for control. “I just take it day by day… things are not in my hands anymore. And I surrender to the one who has one who is in control”.
For Nish, his identity is no longer tied to his physical limbs, but to his faith. “All this is just… a breath of air. It’s just a breath of air and it just blows away”.
As part of The Limb Shift podcast I am working on, I spoke to Nish Afinwala about limb loss and limb difference. The interview with him will appear in the podcast when it launches later in 2026.
I went out for dinner tonight with old school mate, Anthony and his friend, JT, at the newly opened, “Benzin” restaurant in Surry Hills. Although we hadn’t planned to go there, a two hour wait at Billy Kwong’s, meant we had little choice. However, I’m glad we did, because Benzin is great.
Located in what was “Fuel” in “The Clock Hotel Complex”, the waitress told us, and I’ve since confirmed, it’s a “sibling” to Sailor’s Thai.
There was only one entree on the menu last night: deepfried prawns wrapped in noodles with a sour plum sauce, but it was terrific, so it didn’t matter there was no choice.
We chose three mains out of the menu of about a dozen choices, all priced around $18-25 and were more than happy with what we were served. There was a terrific beef green curry with roti, a sublime squid salad with cherry tomatoes and, best of all, a tremendous duck dish.
We were also really happy with the deserts which consisted of a variety of ice-creams, along with delicious mung bean tart. The secret ingredient in the mung bean dish was caramelised schallots, though the waitress only told that after we’d guessed, as she says they generally don’t tell people for how adversely most might react to an onion-based desert.
The wine list was also good, and even though we had two bottles, the meal, including a shared entree, three mains, and three deserts was just $55 per head. What a bargain.
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Interesting to see you had posters for the Lib candidate at your booth – they didn’t bother at ours and no-one was handing out Liberal how to votes. During the campaign, we didn’t even have Lib posters on telegraph poles or get anything in the letterbox. Perhaps we are all too DFH**
I’d assumed the local primary school would be a polling place (as it was for the Federal Election) but I was wrong and missed out on a sausage and cake stall. I feel like this is a bad omen.
I’m very keen to see the result for Newtown. I think it will be quite close.
Yeah we had loads of Liberals handing out how to vote cards. I think it’s more about being borderine Sydney than Newtown. For me the personally interesting thing will be is whether or not both the place I live now (traditional ALP) and the place where I was born (traditional National Party) both return Greens. Who knows…
Twenty minutes is a long time to wait to perform you democratic duty that comes once every three years. In some ways I am kidding but really the Electoral Commission does not get right at polling booths, time and time again. We saw the pre poll voting place in the city and it was quite busy.
Interesting to see you had posters for the Lib candidate at your booth – they didn’t bother at ours and no-one was handing out Liberal how to votes. During the campaign, we didn’t even have Lib posters on telegraph poles or get anything in the letterbox. Perhaps we are all too DFH**
I’d assumed the local primary school would be a polling place (as it was for the Federal Election) but I was wrong and missed out on a sausage and cake stall. I feel like this is a bad omen.
I’m very keen to see the result for Newtown. I think it will be quite close.
**Dirty Hippy
Yeah we had loads of Liberals handing out how to vote cards. I think it’s more about being borderine Sydney than Newtown. For me the personally interesting thing will be is whether or not both the place I live now (traditional ALP) and the place where I was born (traditional National Party) both return Greens. Who knows…
Twenty minutes is a long time to wait to perform you democratic duty that comes once every three years. In some ways I am kidding but really the Electoral Commission does not get right at polling booths, time and time again. We saw the pre poll voting place in the city and it was quite busy.