Beside a national highway on Sydney’s north shore, a coalition of volunteers in teal T-shirts, armed with badges and yard signs, wave energetically at morning traffic. It is just after 7am on a weekday morning and hundreds of them – from teenagers to octogenarians – will be out in force for the next two hours, braving petrol fumes.
The federal election campaign has been put on hold for a few weeks but, in the now-marginal seat of Bradfield, independent candidate Nicolette Boele has recruited more than 1,000 volunteers.
