Where is the political middle? Well, to date it has always been described as the moderate middle or If you will, Small L Liberals.

Moreover, I believe, John Howard with his plethora of non-core promises was not one of them never was never ever will be.

Furthermore, Peter Dutton has nothing whatsoever in common with Jeremy Corbyn.

If you would know where the centre is, wait until after the Wentworth, byelection. And see who gets up and on what's their policy platform. Unless there's a quite massive protest vote and an independent gets the nod. And therefore you none the wiser?

So, should that be the case and my tip, someone not easily levered out by either of the major parties and mountain of money or completely out of touch, shock jock spittle?

Let's be clear, your champion, Peter Dutton is not even guaranteed endorsement, given he steadfastly refuses to have his eligibility tested in the high court!

If he has no doubts about his eligibility, He would refer himself now and have the matter put to rest before the next election.

Finally, there's no guarantee the more moderate voters, the ones who decide every election, will be in a mood to return an obviously power-hungry wrecker from the far right Like Mr Dutton. Your patently biased (far right) opinion notwithstanding.
Alan B.

I don't agree that the Turnbull government was ever “governing for the centre”. The ousting of Abbott was a sharp dive to the Left; and Turnbull spent his time as Prime Minister doing his best to enact Labor party policy in everything except border protection. That is why he is no longer Prime Minister. The man dragged the Coalition to the Left. So, no: he and his creatures were never centre but decidedly left. The Turnbull government spent more, and borrowed more than Labor. Morrison seems to be going the same way on everything. The only way the Coalition will regain office somewhere in the future is to return to the ethic of small government and concentrate on:

Remaining strong on border protection.
Slashing immigration.
Paying off the half trillion debt.
Defending our Western civilisation and our way of life.
Rebutting man-made global warming as an issue of any substance.
Strongly opposing all efforts to ruin our economy via the non-existent AGW non-problem.
Unequivocally supporting free enterprise and opposing crony capitalist ventures funded by governments.
Strengthening our national defence against foreign aggression with maintenance of the American alliance the top priority.
Selecting candidates who have life experience - not elitists who are incapable of acting on behalf of the majority - like the lawyers, academics and party hacks we have now.

Yes, the centre is not the socially and economically liberal elites that commentators and party officials still think dwell in marginal seats. The centre comprises socially conservative, economically egalitarian people who live in outer suburbs and regional areas.

This 'centre' is not a small minority; it is the mainstream 80% of people. Their electorates comprise a few marginals, but an even greater number of traditionally 'safe' seats in outer suburban and regional areas for both Liberal and Labor parties.

The Australian Democrats tried to represent this 'centre' in the 1970s, with their emphasis on curbing both Big Business and Big Unions, supporting small and worker-owned firms, but after the Hawke/Keating Government appeared in 1983, the Democrats switched to the socially liberal, economically affluent voters that has continued to define the mainstream, but flawed, narrative about the 'centre'to this day.

It's time we brought this up to date with reality. See http://www.radicalcentre.org.au

The centre is what will decide both the now critical Wentworth election and all elections that follow regardless of the efforts of the anti-democratic extreme right wing to convince us otherwise?

Or the scrambling of the Morrison coalition to undo some of the conservative impositions/inhumanity and try with late hour sugar hits to pacify the voters, who are waiting with baseball bats for all the anti-equality, climate change denialists, naysayers and the wreckers who won't wear the umpire's decision?

Malcolm Turnbull was replaced because? The economy was shrinking under his watch/preferred policy paradigm? No!

The revolving door that is coalition politics, [political ambition,] hadn't quite stopped spinning?

Bring on the next election Wentworth, by using your vote to force the coalition to an election ASAP! And then we shall see just where the moderate middle really is! And they have forgotten nothing!
Alan B.

The comment from Alan B tells us nothing about the political 'centre'. It is just another iteration of the Lab vs Lib ritualised exchange that has poisoned Australian politics for a long time now and generated unprecedented levels of disengagement from the democratic process. How is the 'centre' to be conceived in this era? How is it now constituted in relation to the flight from unchosen social bonds and obligations unleashed by liberalism into the modern world? And how is it constituted in relation to triumph of an all-prevasive managerial class in public, private and NGO sectors? Let's push the political elites and their institutions to engage with these questions, but please, leave the mind-numbing Lib vs Lab ritual out of it.

At a more global level which also includes Australia these three related essays describe the foundational basis of truly radical centre:
http://www.priorunity.org/excerpt-separateness-egoless-culture
http://www.dabase.org/p7unity.htm
http://www.beezone.com/da_publications/coopcomm.html

This reference describes our collective situation
http://fearnomore.vision/world/integrity-of-the-whole

All conventional politics is based upon and reinforces the principle of separateness, which, by its very nature inevitably subverts and destroys even the possibility of Cooperative Community

Meanwhile I recently came across two very interesting books which describe the historical basis for our impoverished collective situation

Silent theft The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollier

Stop Thief: The Commons Enclosures & Resistance Peter Linebaugh