“Three elevens” in the field, and the umpire has lost control of the match. That was how Alfred Deakin described the disintegration of Australia’s two-party system in 1904. A century later, his observation feels unexpectedly contemporary. The structural realignment of Australian politics is no longer a looming vulnerability for the major parties but a dangerous reality.Post-budget polling suggests neither major party can take its electoral base for granted. What once appeared solely a teal threat to the Coalition is now eroding Labor’s support as well. Australian politics is returning to the fluidity and fragmentation that characterised the early years of Federation – and may yet become more fractured still.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
Australia’s century-old political order is collapsing
The coming period may prove more volatile than anything the founders of the Commonwealth confronted when Deakin’s “three elevens” took the field.
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