Teen charged over alleged pre-poll attack in PM's seat
Two people have been charged over incidents at pre-polling booths, including a teenager accused of punching an elderly man during a tense stand-off in the prime minister's electorate.
Police have charged a 17-year-old with assault occasioning actual bodily harm after the incident at Ashfield, in Sydney's inner west, on Wednesday afternoon.
He 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 refused police bail and will face a children's court on Thursday.
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, in Sydney's northwest.
Police alleged the man kicked over a number of corflutes about 11am, 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 at a nearby unit about 1pm. He was given bail and will face Burwood Local Court on June 2.
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.
An Australian Electoral Commission spokesman said the organisation was disappointed by any violent or intimidatory behaviour and called for respectful campaigning to occur.
"Both matters occurred outside of the polling venues," the spokesman said.
"Neither involved an AEC staff member and neither affected the continued operation of polling activities."
Pre-polling opened on Tuesday, with more than 1.1 million 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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