Iowa sends message to Australia

The big question is this. Can this manifest itself in Australia when we go to the polls later this year? The answer is a clear yes as those same angry voters are waiting to hit the political establishment with whatever blunt instrument they can find.

They don’t want to vote for the Liberals, Nationals or Labor and they are reluctant to lodge their protest vote with the Greens as they are looking too much like the establishment having lost the revolutionary fervour of the days of Brown and Milne.

So, they are looking for a home. Independents will do very well indeed and minority parties will swamp the Senate. If Turnbull wins, as looks likely, he will face the largest Senate Crossbench in the history of the Australian Parliament.

It will be astute for us to keep an eye on Nick Xenophon. He will win two more Senate seats in South Australia and will probably pick up Christopher Pyne’s seat in the House of Representatives. Thankfully, he is a much more sane and pragmatic politician than Trump and he is in the centre politically. Interestingly, he says he is in the radical centre.

Fortunately, Pauline Hanson is now a lost cause even though she may run again.

Be this as it may, we can be sure that there is yet time for another nutter to appear in her place.