Political developments over the past few weeks in Australia suggest that we may be witnessing the embryonic emergence of a new populist party in this country.

The conservative Liberal/National party coalition suffered a devastating and catastrophic loss at the recent Australian federal election. The incumbent Labor party government won 93 seats in the House of Representatives, while the coalition managed to win only 43.

Then this week, in an extraordinary development, the National party refused to renew its coalition agreement with the Liberals that has been in place for decades.

The situation of the conservatives in Australia is, therefore, analogous to that in the UK – with a Labor government in power, opposed by a deeply divided and increasingly ineffective conservative opposition.

There is, however, an important difference between the political landscape of each country – namely that, in the UK, Nigel Farage’s populist Reform party has recently emerged as a major political force. Reform’s victories in the recent local council elections, and its win in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election (overturning a 17,000 vote Labor majority) have confirmed that Reform is now the country’s main opposition party.

In Australia, however, despite surging electoral dissatisfaction with the conservative opposition for the past decade, a populist party akin to Reform has not yet come into being.

That situation, however, may be about to change.

In the UK, Reform emerged in the wake of Brexit and widespread disenchantment with a Conservative party – now led by the ineffective Kemi Badenoch – racked by internal division, and unable to ideologically distinguish itself from the elitist Labour party.

Over the past decade, increasing numbers of disaffected UK voters have realised that both major parties represent the economic and ideological interests of the global elites that now rule Britain, as well as most Western countries.

The voters also appreciate that these elites are responsible for the current cost-of-living crisis and the destruction of traditional British values – processes that have reduced many ordinary Britons to penury, and made them cultural outcasts in their own country.

Reform has given these disaffected voters a voice – by adopting policies that accord with their values, and provide a clear-cut political alternative to the policies espoused by both major parties.

Reform’s policies include scrapping net zero and massive subsidies for renewable energy; putting an end to mass illegal immigration; dismantling DEI and transgender programs; defending traditional Western values; ending UK involvement in foreign conflicts; and nationalising key industries.

In espousing these policies, Reform has opposed the entrenched elitism of both Labour and the Conservatives – and........

© RT.com