As a member of the media I can say that to claim the left does not dominate the media is absurd. I think the problem is that Bruce has seen articles he disagrees with and, being hard left himself, has leapt to the conclusion that sinister forces have worked to produce that contrary opinion.

The hard fact Bruce has to swallow is that the electorate itself has changed and is far less tolerent of hard left actions and rhetoric than they were, even when he retired, let alone in the prime of his career. In fact, the trend is away from people being even interested in politics. Ihe rest of us, including politicians, have to adjust, so should Bruce..

Cohenite, you hit the nail right on the head. The Greens wouldn't know what day it is in the real world.

I suspect that the average jingoistic Australian also couldn't give a stuff about sinking boats either. All they want is for their neighbourhoods to not be overrun by hijab wearing Moslems. It is rather ironic that the Greens, who profess to be such humanitarians will be the ones who help keep the Moslems out.

David

Perhaps the Right is succeeding in Australia because it's -- well -- RIGHT. As in factually correct. With an electorate that is getting smarter and better-informed all the time, the days of the Big Lie and ideological purity trumping reason, common-sense and logic may well be over.

If and when the Labor Party demonstrate a better capacity for rational decision-making than their opponents -- not too hard a task, surely -- then they can have my vote and welcome.

An excellent article---very well written too; it looks like hyperbole but it's actually true---Bruce and I agree with every word. The only left-wing politics going on in this country is puerile identity politics, and I'm not sure feminism and the gay movement aren't more about libertarianism than social reform.
The one thing you forgot to mention is that our politicians perfectly reflect the electorate. The reason the right is so dominant is it has recruited much of the left. By which I mean that far from being the romanticised proletariat, the hard-line unionist left, throughout the West, has always been partly comprised of xenophobic nationalists rather than communists. Thus in Australia there's little encouragement for any party to move more to the left.

There is an old adage that if you are not left-wing at 20 you haven't got a heart, and that if you are not right-wing at 40 you haven't got a head. The ageing of the population is big factor in the turn to the right in Australian politics. Hopefully Tony Abbott will soon get into power and begin the good work of cutting welfare, stopping the boats, and repealing the carbon tax.

"The left in Australia is an endangered species. Its habit is scattered and its birth rate falling."
You mean there is a God after all ?