News / Federal Election
Meet the odd couple who will be on opposing sides this Saturday
But concern about refugee policies unites this political household
Mark Phillips
WHILE the battle between Labor and the Greens for the seat of Wills may be capturing national media attention, in one Brunswick household it is a different political contest that is firing up passions.
Coreflutes for the Fusion Party and Legalise Cannabis jostle for space in the front yard of the Brunswick West home of Ken Taylor and Lorraine Butler.
The two minor parties are unlikely to gain more than a few per cent of the total votes cast in Wills this Saturday, but that makes no difference to these campaigners who have been handing out how to vote cards for their respective candidates at the Brunswick pre-poll booth over the past week.
Their support for different parties has also led to some robust arguments over the dinner table.
Taylor, 74, is a lifelong unionist and political activist who first came of age during the Whitlam government but gradually moved away from Labor over the years.
He helped out on Phil Cleary’s successful campaigns as an independent in Wills in the early-1990s and has stood for the Victorian Parliament and in council elections as an independent.
“I was absolutely united we stand, Labor, union, all of that, rock solid, and absolutely ecstatic about what happened when Whitlam got in, cancelled conscription so my brothers were safe, and he made tertiary education free, which meant I could get a degree and be a teacher,” he said.
“But I parted company with the Labor Party in ’92 when Bob [Hawke] and Paul [Keating] embraced economic rationalism.”
This time, he is volunteering for Fusion Party candidate Owen Miller.
“I had completely given up trying to find someone I could support in this election, and I accidentally cycled past the coreflute of Owen … I’m always looking for someone who’s genuine and open to ideas and to further development.
“[Miller] is just very genuine, very new to it, on the one hand, but also a very deeply reflective person. There are aspects of the Fusion Party I might not agree with, but it’s a place where you can actually have the argument.”
Unlike Taylor, Butler, also 74, says she was not a political person until they met when they were both working at the same primary school in Reservoir about three decades ago.
“I always voted, but I never took a real interest in politics until I got together with this crazy man and we started working together and doing things, and he opened my eyes to politics,” she said.
“And I absolutely love doing pre-polling and on the polling booth.”
She is volunteering for Legalise Cannabis’ Margee Glover out of loyalty to the party’s lead Victorian Senate candidate, Fiona Patten, who is a personal friend since they first met at a community meeting Butler had organised about a decade ago.
“She walked in the room, introduced herself, I made her a cup of tea, and the first thing she said was, ‘Oh, God, can I take my heels off? I’ve been walking all day’.
“I thought, this is my kind of woman. And then I found out what she did and what she was involved in, and we’ve been friends ever since, and I’ve supported her in every election since.”
Taylor also has a soft spot for Patten, but insists Fusion will fare better than Legalise Cannabis “because the cannabis party is one colour and one issue, and fusion is a number of colours and a number of issues”.
“We’re not just one issue!” retorts Butler.
When it comes to election day, both Taylor and Butler will be canvassing at the Brunswick North West Primary School booth.
It will not be the first time they have been on opposing sides at an election; at the 2022 state election, Taylor ran as an independent (he got 153 votes), while Butler volunteered for Patten’s Reason Party.
“We like to mix things up a bit on the day,” Butler said.
“People were shocked because I was saying things like ‘Old man, don’t step in front of me again, stay over your side’. And people said ‘Oh, we always try to be polite’. So I said, ‘He’s my partner, I can tell him off’ – which cracked everybody up.”
One area where the couple are in complete agreement is about the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees by both major parties.
Among the Fusion and Legalise Cannabis coreflutes in their yard are also signs for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s ‘Vote With Refugees’ campaign.
Taylor and Butler would like to see a more compassionate attitude towards asylum seekers.
“I don’t know if it’s a radical proposal, but I reckon anyone who gets their feet on Australian soil should be immediately regarded as an Australian citizen with the same rights and obligations as anyone else,” Taylor said.
“Maybe [have] a three month, six month transition program [to] work out their English, whatever, but to treat them like criminal, that’s outrageous.”
Despite the superficial differences, this political odd couple have much more in common than they might like to admit.
