In the bellwether suburb of the nation’s bellwether seat, the willingness of the residents of Truscott Street, Kariong, to trust Scott Morrison for another three years is a microcosm of middle Australia.
Friends Nicola Goddard and Renae Kilduff said they were worried about how to juggle the demands of part-time work and parenting.“Food and childcare, they’re the hardest to keep going, then you’ve got your petrol,” Ms Kilduff said. Liberal MP Lucy Wicks, an ally of the prime minister, has held the seat of Roberton since 2013. Labor’s candidate iMs Goddard acknowledged that COVID-19 supply chain disruption and the war in Ukraine were fuelling price rises, but she said politicians were just “blah, blah, blah and there was no action”.
Grainger Highton is another Robertson local feeling the pinch. While it is a state matter, he raises the issue of tolls, which cost him $200 a week as he drives to and from his job as a teacher in western Sydney, and the effect of higher petrol and grocery prices.“We come home with $400 worth of shopping for what we would have got for $250 six months ago,” he said.“On top of everything else, house prices for my kids.