There are three dominant facts about the Australian political scene right now.

The first is that, gradually perhaps, something dangerous is developing. At the last election, the Australian Federal Police told a Senate inquiry last week, threats to candidates rose by 17 per cent; also, neo-Nazis were moving more strongly into the political arena.

There are three dominant facts about the Australian political scene right now, writes Sean Kelly.Credit: The Age

Since the election, several polls have found One Nation doubling its support. The most worrying analysis I’ve seen came from ANU political lecturer, Dr Jill Sheppard, who told The Guardian “it feels like the conversation that we were having 20 or 30 years ago about the Greens”. And in fact this masthead’s Resolve poll recently had One Nation outpolling the Greens.

Meanwhile, different polls have also found immigration to be rising as an issue among voters – and, as James Campbell reported, more voters now blame immigration or population growth for housing problems than any other cause.

The second thing to note about politics right now is that the........

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