“We need to have that third voice”: A Glen Waverley couple supports a hung parliament

In the first of our series speaking to locals across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, we speak to Glen Waverley couple Heather and Richard King about where they’re from, how they feel about the election, and what’s deciding their vote.

Matthew Sims
April 04, 2025

With the federal election now called for Saturday May 3, the Eastern Melburnian is hitting the pavement and asking locals what issue will be swaying their vote.

Earlier this week, after talking about their transition to becoming an all-electric household, we spoke to Glen Waverley couple Heather and Richard King.

“I think the only way we’re going to get good government is if we have a hung parliament because when we have a hung parliament, everything has to be discussed,” Heather said.

“They can’t rubber stamp things.”

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Richard said a key issue which would influence his vote would be which candidate supports taxing large corporations.

“We can’t let the big gas companies, we can’t let Google and Facebook off the hook, all of them should be paying their way,” he said.

“Much better they pay their way than we have to put a hand in our pocket.”

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Heather said she had voted for Labor for most of her life, but had recently started to lean more towards voting for Independent and Greens candidates.

“In the Senate, I’ve always voted Greens. I always feel the Senate is such a good backstop on keeping things on an even keel, so I’ve always voted Greens in the Senate and like Heather, Labor or Greens in the House,” Richard said.

“Not because we agree with all of the Greens policies, although a lot of them were quite good when you look at them, but because we need to have that third voice,” Heather said.

“Keep the buggers honest.”