Among hundreds of people that cast their votes at Cobra Street two days ahead of election day is Labor candidate Jack Ayoub, his crisp white shirt's sleeves smartly rolled up and signature red tie matched his own bright red print how-to-vote card.
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Traditionally, candidates vote on polling day in their hometown alongside their families but Mr Ayoub, still single at 27, would rather tour polling centres around Parkes electorate to swing more voters to his side till the last minute.
That's how tough the battle to win Parkes in this election is for this young union official who counts on the wisdom of former prime ministers Paul Keating and the late Gough Whitlam guiding him throughout an intense campaign.
Trailing second to Coulton
Having a solid Coalition seat to win over is hard, but Mr Ayoub said he was inspired by the warm reception from people he has met since day one of the campaigns to try to unseat for the second time incumbent Nationals Party MP Mark Coulton.
Coulton and his party have never lost Parkes since the seat was resurrected in 1984 to represent far west NSW. Prior to that, the seat belonged to Sydney since the Federation of Australian states and territories in 1901 engineered by Sir Henry Parkes, the seat's famous link to its namesake. The seat merged with Riverina during a redistribution until it was abolished in 1969.
Mr Ayoub has trailed Mr Coulton in the first try at the 2019 election, only getting 23 percent of primary votes, and getting pre-selected again logically meant finding ways to turn pages towards Labor as best his party could do.
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Labor's visionary leaders
"They were visionary leaders..all the big stuff is done by Labor prime ministers. Universal superannuation and the Native Title Act were Keating's, the National Disability Insurance Scheme was Gillard's, apology to the stolen generation was Rudd, Medicare was Hawke's and if an Albanese government is elected, we will have another legacy," Mr Ayoub said.
Asked what legacy opposition leader Anthony Albanese could possibly bring if Labor wins this election, Mr Ayoub said they have yet to "see what's his but a future Labor government will be a government that cares about the people."
He believes Mr Albanese, though recently lagging in the polls and way behind Mr Morrison as preferred PM according to polls as well, will be an "excellent PM" because he deeply understands parliament.
Elizabeth Frias
I began my news reporting days in western and inner west Sydney before joining the Daily Liberal's Dubbo NSW newsroom. Telling all sorts of stories about people, places and events is my daily preoccupation so email me at elizabeth.frias@austcommunitymedia.com.au and I'll be in touch!
I began my news reporting days in western and inner west Sydney before joining the Daily Liberal's Dubbo NSW newsroom. Telling all sorts of stories about people, places and events is my daily preoccupation so email me at elizabeth.frias@austcommunitymedia.com.au and I'll be in touch!
