2 weeks Ago By Alex Mitchell
Two people have been charged over incidents at pre-polling booths, including a teenager who seriously injured an elderly man during a tense stand-off in the prime minister's electorate. Login or signup to continue reading The 17-year-old was due to face a children's court on Thursday after allegedly punching the 79-year-old at Ashfield, in Sydney's inner west, on Wednesday afternoon. In separate incidents, a man allegedly aggressively intimidated people at a second Sydney polling booth while a punch was thrown as purported far-right agitators confronted candidates at a forum in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong on Wednesday night.
The teenager allegedly punched a 79-year-old man in the face outside a pre-polling centre in the suburb, which falls within Anthony Albanese's electorate of Grayndler. The elderly man was taken to hospital in a serious condition with head injuries. He was reportedly wearing a Make America Great Again hat and tried to vandalise a corflute before the attack.
The teenager was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and spent the night in police cells. A 30-year-old man was charged with intimidation after allegedly behaving aggressively towards a number of volunteers in a separate incident at Macquarie Park on Wednesday morning. Macquarie Park sits inside the seat of Bennelong, which was won by Labor in 2022 and is tipped to be a key battleground electorate at the May 3 poll.
Police alleged the man kicked over several corflutes before being aggressive to three volunteers, including a 32-year-old female. Video of the incident shows the man, wearing a hood, knocking down one sign before picking another one up and throwing it in the direction of a man wearing Liberal Party paraphernalia. He walked off after the incident and no one was injured.
Police arrested the man nearby. He was given bail and will face Burwood Local Court on June 2. The Australian Electoral Commission said it was disappointed by violent or intimidatory behaviour and called for respectful campaigning to occur.
"Both matters occurred outside of the polling venues," a spokesman said. "Neither affected the continued operation of polling activities." In a third incident on Wednesday, three men believed to be far-right agitators confronted candidates at a forum in the seat of Kooyong.
They could be heard shouting things including "we are the working class" and "we are not represented by the liberal democracy". Kooyong's independent MP, Monique Ryan, said they also yelled about immigration and rape. One woman in the audience threw a punch at one of the protesters, the MP said.
Dr Ryan labelled the men "right-wing bullies" and said their demonstration was "stupid, pointless posturing". "It was a community forum where people were having an opportunity to talk to their political candidates about things that matter to them, and these people were just undertaking pointless disruption," she told ABC Radio. "We're seeing increasing incidents of right wing rabble-rousers basically disrupting community events.
" Pre-polling opened on Tuesday, with more than 1.1 million people voting in the first two days. That represents a 17 per cent spike in early voting compared to the same period at the 2022 election.
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