One of the dullest campaigns in living memory ended up with one of the most interesting results. The two are not unrelated. Both major parties have the sand moving under their feet and approached the election paralyzed lest they put a foot wrong. Both adopted what has kindly been called a small target ‘strategy’; which is a splendid approach—providing no other parties are running. Which they were.

Saturday night was a disaster for the Liberals. Partly it was a result of the loss of authority of the federal government during Covid that meant the usual Coalition buttons on national security and economy did not work when pushed. But the problems that emerged went far beyond that. It was not just that the Liberals recorded their worst primary since the party was founded, but losing some of its safest seats revealed a bigger problem than a falling primary, focused on the issue of climate change.