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How ABC election guru Antony Green makes his preparations from A to Zzzzz

ABC-TV's chief elections analyst Antony Green is adding his insights to his 11th federal election in 2019.

ABC-TV's chief elections analyst Antony Green is adding his insights to his 11th federal election in 2019. Photo: ABC

As polls are set to open on federal election day on Saturday, Australian TV’s foremost elections expert has only one thing on his mind.

It’s not some superstitious ritual, or even cramming in obsessive stat checking. Nope.

“I just try and get a good night’s sleep,” ABC-TV’s chief elections analyst Antony Green, 59, tells The New Daily during a quick break before rehearsals on Friday.

“I’ll take something to help, or I’ll probably not get enough.”

A keen cyclist who loves his carbon-fibre Focus Cayo, Green won’t have time this Saturday morning for a spin around Sydney’s beaches.

His schedule is too tight to even vote. That’s already been done at a pre-polling station (minus democracy sausage).

The one luxury Green will allow himself is grabbing bacon and eggs at a cafe near the ABC’s Ultimo studios.

“Because you’re never quite sure when you’ll eat again,” the UK-born psephologist – someone who studies elections and voting statistics –  tells The New Daily.

“They’ll usually supply a meal sometime before we go live at six, but once we’re on camera, it’s just energy drinks and lollies to keep us going.”

On Saturday, Green will be at his office by 12.30pm for more rehearsals, before hitting the makeup chair about 2pm: “Then I’ll wander around feeling nervous before we go on air at six.”

ABC-TV’s coverage was the most-watched at the last election in 2016, when then-PM Malcolm Turnbull came within one seat of losing power. The national broadcaster reached 5.3 million Australians.

This year’s lineup is Leigh Sales, Annabel Crabb, Andrew Probyn, Laura Tingle, Barrie Cassidy and Michael Rowland. The panel will include
Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos and Labor Senator Penny Wong.

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Combining serious smarts with a cheery on-screen demeanour, Green (who has 147,000 Twitter followers) has become a ubiquitous part of the election process after 30 years in the hot seat, calling 10 federal polls.

Many Australians look to him to call it on the night, though the latter expectation riles him slightly.

“It irritates me a little bit that they increasingly want to highlight that, because to me, calling the election is neither here nor there.”

Wait. What?

“To me, the data unfolds before me and I see the probability of a party winning, so I don’t suddenly go from don’t know to know,” he explains.

Knowing the electorates inside out helps, with his fancy touchscreen keeping him on point with candidates’ names and margins on the night.

Not all seats are equal, and in 2019 Green will be especially focused on Tony Abbot’s seat of Warringah, Greg Hunt in Flinders, Cathy McGowan’s seat of Indi and Dr Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth.

He’s not sure if the death of former PM Bob Hawke will swing voters, although it clearly derailed the government’s last-minute campaign.

“That’s the main impact,” Green says. “Whether it makes people feel a bit more attached to the Labor party, I don’t know. To be honest, I avoid predictions.

“I just blank my mind and go off what I see on the night.”

This year’s poll took extra research, given boundary redistributions plus the Victorian and the NSW state elections, but normally Green starts warming up as much as six months in advance.

Friends and family members don’t share his electoral passion, but sometimes randoms do – way too much: “It’s not something I necessarily want to talk about all night at a party when someone pins you down.”

His panel colleagues can get a bit too chatty, too.

“I get cranky when we’ve got numbers we’re trying to out to air and they won’t come to us,” he says.

“Someone starts a discussion on the other panel and it just goes on, and on, and on.”

How does Green wind down when it’s all over?

“I struggle,” he admits.

“I’ll usually have a drink when we go off-air, but then I have to hang around and make sure the computer system is still publishing to the internet and reconfigure things a bit.

“Once that’s all done, I just want to go home to bed.”

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