A long day for leaders and their loved ones

Sunday Mail

November 25, 2007

By Steve Connolly, Darrell Giles and Andrew Chesterton

AUSTRALIA'S political leaders made polling a family affair yesterday when votes were finally cast after a gruelling six-week election campaign.

Prime Minister John Howard was met by his daughter Melanie and grandson Angus, who handed the PM his how-to-vote card.

``I think you need to vote for this guy,'' Ms Howard-McDonald said while holding Angus and pointing to a picture of her father at the Ermington West Public School in the Sydney seat of Bennelong.

The PM, in a smart blazer and speckled blue tie, refused offers to jump the rapidly growing queue, instead using the 30-minute wait to secure some last-minute support from those in front and behind him.

Some voters wished the PM well, while others told him to prepare for retirement.

Mr Howard later headed to other polling booths in Bennelong, where he was facing a tight battle with Labor celebrity candidate and former ABC broadcaster Maxine McKew.

Ms McKew had help from Diver Dan as she cast her vote, with SeaChange actor David Wenham handing out how-to-vote leaflets before giving the Labor recruit a star-powered hug.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd also had plenty of family support when he stepped out in Brisbane yesterday.

He was flanked by wife Therese Rein, eldest son Nic, daughter Jessica and her husband Albert Tse, when he turned out to vote at his local parish, St John the Baptist Anglican Church, at Bulimba in his safe east Brisbane seat of Griffith. Mr Rudd, dressed in a jacket with no tie, had a kiss for Ms Rein after lodging his ballot. He then wandered though the church jumble sale, which was raising money for church repairs, where he bought $10 worth of tickets in both raffles.

``I'd like to see lots of money raised for my local church fete,'' Mr Rudd said.

He had appealed to ``working families'' throughout the six-week campaign but he did not win the vote of the Dollar family in Bulimba yesterday.

Paul Dollar, 36, a dentist, said that while the possibility of a local lad as prime minister was exciting, he preferred the Greens' policies.

Wife Ali, 32, a chartered accountant raising their three children aged five and under, declined to say for whom she had cast her vote.

``Time will tell whether it will be beneficial (to Griffith and Queensland) if he wins,'' she said.

After voting in Griffith, Mr Rudd dashed to the state's two most marginal Liberal seats of Bonner and Moreton for some last-minute campaigning before spending the afternoon at his Brisbane home.

At Kedron State School in Brisbane's inner north yesterday, Libbi Swan voted for the first time, putting her support behind Labor's treasury spokesman Wayne Swan -- her father -- in the seat of Lilley, which he holds with a 5.4 per cent buffer.

``I don't think there's any question about who I voted for,'' said the 18-year-old, who last night was jetting off to travel overseas.

Elder sister Erinn, 23, lead singer for rising Brisbane rock band Nina May, also voted for her father while 13-year-old brother Matt had to be content to just look on.

Mr Swan said having two of his children voting ``was really exciting for us as a family''.

Treasurer Peter Costello was one of the first Australians to cast a vote. The No. 2 Lib and his wife Tanya were at the Camberwell Church of Christ hall in his Melbourne seat of Higgins when polling booths opened at 8am.

In response to a voter who said: ``Good luck, although I don't think you'll need it'', a nervous Mr Costello replied: ``Oh I think we do.''

Deputy Labor leader Julia Gillard had the support of a federal colleague and a former Labor premier's wife as she headed to the polling booth in Melbourne.

Ms Gillard was accompanied by opposition health spokeswoman Nicola Roxon and Terry Bracks, wife of former Victorian premier Steve Bracks, when she cast her vote in her safe electorate of Lalor.

She even took time to enjoy a sausage sandwich.

Deputy PM Mark Vaile was heckled over the sale of Telstra in his New South Wales mid-north coast seat of Lyne. His visit to Wauchope High School was marred by the confrontation.