“Are you voting today, sir?” The Liberal Party volunteer asks the balding man in high-vis striding purposefully past the pre-poll centre.

“Nah, I’m not voting at all. I don’t believe in any of those pricks.” He thwacks the last word like a slap.

This happens as I sit with Greens Senator and Yamatji-Noongar woman Dorinda Cox in Belmont Forum, one of those beautifully anonymous shopping precincts. Everywhere has them, and Perth has perfected the art. Multicultural, working and lower-middle-class patrons slipping past to Belmont Market and Halal Meat, the Juice and Falooda Bar, the Coles and Bottlemart over the road.