The 2025 Federal Election is officially a sizzler, with thousands of voters enjoying sunshine and sausage sandwiches at polling places across the Cunningham electorate today.
“The last couple of elections, it's either been howling winds or torrential rain,” said Tim, one of the Village Church members manning the bake stall at Bulli PCYC this sunny Saturday, May 3.
“This is amazing. This is a good turnout today.”
Chocolate brownies were the Village Church's bestselling sweet treat and democracy sausages were flying off the grill.
“People seem hungry today," Tim said. "We've had to go to Woolies for extra bread a few times now.”
Bulli’s PCYC was the place to be this morning, with Liberal candidate Amanda Ivaneza and her husband Dorian greeting constituents on the footpath, while Labor’s Alison Byrnes and her team chatted to people heading inside the club.
Both candidates were set to cast their own votes at Bulli today.
All funds raised from the Village Church barbie and bake stall will go to Bulli PCYC, which, with two basketball courts, gymnastics and popular holiday programs, has been a sporting hub for 60 years.
Tim said, “We do the bake stall and the barbecue every year. We don't raise so much that we can do anything massive, but trestle tables, chairs, little bits and pieces that they need around the club.”
Up in the northern section of Cunningham, the Helensburgh Lions crew were doing a roaring trade at their barbecue at the town’s Anglican Church, while across the courtyard, the state Member for Heathcote, Maryanne Stuart, was handing our flyers for federal Labor’s Alison Byrnes.
Also at the Helensburgh polling booth was former Wollongong councillor Cameron Walters, gamely giving out Liberal flyers, even after the NSW Liberal Party’s paperwork blunder ahead of the 2024 local government elections put paid (temporarily) to his own political career.
Voters said the atmosphere had been great, with everyone and their dogs enjoying the Saturday election buzz.
At the southern end of the city, the barbie was also fired up at Port Kembla Public School, where Greens candidate Jess Whittaker – a local resident and paramedic – seized the opportunity to play a round of handball (look out, ‘handball king’ Kevin Rudd).
The Port Kembla P&C were among the first winners of the 2025 Federal Election, cooking 20kg of sausages and selling out by about 1pm.
School principal Kylie Pratt told the Illawarra Flame the P&C's bestseller was “everything – it all went!”
Funds from the polling day barbie will go towards school improvements, potentially supporting the creation of a mural on their big steps.
“The other thing we are investigating as a school is inside classroom furniture and uplifting the environments in our learning spaces as well,” Kylie said.
Polls close today at 6pm. By tonight, the ABC may be able to project which party is likely to form government — or if there'll be a hung parliament — with the public broadcaster’s chief election analyst Antony Green saying: "You'll probably know by 10 o'clock".