We’ve just had one of those lovely moments in the life of the nation where normally invisible truths are made manifest.

In a welcome return to actual politics, the election campaign—so far, a miserable pantomime orchestrated by an image-obsessed prime minister conspiring with an easily led press corps, and more than half-helped by an Opposition scared to death of upsetting the horses—ignited around the issue of a wage increase for Australia’s lowest paid workers.