Greens could replace morally wayward Labor

The divide – and the party positions that coalesce around it - is so strong that it is difficult for third parties to get a toehold. And ones that want to sit in a central position, like the Australian Democrats, often fail.

But the Greens are taking voters who have liberal moral foundations from Labor. The Greens’ moral compass has been consistent for more than two decades. Of course, to displace Labor, the Greens will have to evolve more from hair-shirt wearing basket weavers who meet every ounce of successful economic initiative with daunting demands for redistribution to the undeserving.

A displacement is not likely but quite possible, and if it happens everyone will say (after the event), well that was obviously on the cards and rework their thinking with the benefit of hindsight.

Thirty percent of the primary vote – less than a third – is a dangerous place to be in a polity of two major parties and one significant other.