Michael Leunig’s journey from anti-war and anti-corporate provocateur to a critic of ‘wokeism’ and cancel culture is familiar and predictable. We’ve seen other prominent baby-boomer artists, thinkers and entertainers take the same path during the political realignments of the Facebook era. And there’ll be more—journalists seem determined to ask every cultural figure over 70 for their thoughts on Young People Today and their cancelling ways. David Williamson was asked just the other day.

Leunig’s adoption of right-wing buzzwords is notable because he’s such an influential figure. A certified National Trust ‘Living Treasure’, his cartoons are part of the stock imagery of Australian whimsy and alienation. His iconography has appeared weekly in newspapers since the 1980s, as well in musical, theatrical, televisual, and stadium-spectacle adaptations. A Leunig Appreciation Page on Facebook has 213,000 followers and racks up tens of thousands of ‘Loves’, ‘Cares’, and ‘Sads’ per week. Another 43,000 follow his Instagram account. One of Leunig’s many books, Poems (2003), is among the highest-selling collections of Australian verse ever printed. And he has a new (and only partially visible) army of fans among the wellness community.