Luciferase - Trump did not drain the swamp he filled it with former Goldman Sachs Execs and former military Generals.

The future will give an indication as to whether he can make changes that help the people not the 1% of rich people.

Main party politicians the world over are on the nose with electorates.

Luciferase,

I hope you were not referring to my post as well, because you are getting me wrong if you did.

It is possible to agree that politicians and those who advise them are not having sufficient regard for the views of the electorate that put them there, without at the same time proposing Trump or lookalike as the solution.

In Australia for instance, both sides of the Parliament have rejected public benefit as a consideration in policy. The public and the public service are in clear and emphatic disagreement with the politicians on that.

Foxy, you very much express the feelings and thoughts of the general populous on this.

Hassy and Butch, you totally lack any comprehension of the reality of Australian politics. Unlike Abbott and Hanson, Bernadi has no "profile" outside of SA, and not much of a one down that way as I understand it. Forming a political party, aka Conservative Party, needs the backing of a high profile player like Tony Abbott. On the practical side any new party needs both financial backers and, candidates, both of which are not easy to find.

Who are likely to suffer by the formation of another far right party. Depending on policy, Firstly it would draw conservative Liberals and some Hanson supporters, back to the more traditional conservative fold, and depending on the rhetoric it spews, it could even draw a few conservative blue collar Labor voters. The Greens attracts the social progressives, like One Nation there would be no possibility of the new conservatives espousing socially progressive policies. The Green vote would remain unchanged or increase with a switch of disillusioned progressive Liberal and Labor voters . I personally would like the right to form a new political party every day of the week.
Having too many parties on your side of politics is no advantage, it causes your vote to fragment.

Politicians are like co-dependent women.
'Monkeys'; who aren't willing to let go of one branch until they have a firm grip on the next.

Dear Paul,

We now have to wait and see how successful
the Coalition will be in governing in such
difficult and challenging times (with internal
party problems, and an increasing debt that
has doubled, or it it tripled?, under their
watch). Out of all the choices available to
the voters in the current political arena
which ones will the voters decide will be
able to attempt to deal with the
key challenges of the 21st century?
Cory Bernardi? Pauline Hanson? The Greens?
or the Coalition or Labor?

It's no longer as predictable as it once was.
Things certainly appear to have changed.
I remember how the Rudd government was seen
by the Murdoch Press and by Coalition supporters
through the prism of debt and dysfunction
(despite the Coalition's own belated acknowledgement
in its costings that return to surplus was no
easy task in a time of falling government revenue).

Interesting times ahead.

Foxy,

I agree with you. A senator is elected on the party's ticket and not in his own right, and if he were to leave parliament, the party would be able to select the new senator. Even belonging to the libs an MP from either house is not obliged to vote on party lines, and changing parties so soon into a 6 yr term is questionable at least.

Paul,

You are partially right, the conservatives and One nation will mostly take voters from the liberals, just as the greens have taken voters mostly from labor. However, if ON and the Liberals preference each other (as do the greens and labor) it gives the liberals more opportunity to pursue more centrist policies while ON mops up the more conservative vote. This would leave Labor in its present form stranded on the left.