Two decades ago, Bob Katter began warning of an upwelling against the political mainstream's affection for privatisation, free trade, and globalisation.

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The nativist Queenslander was so convinced that a pitchfork rebellion was brewing that at one point he called a press scrum into his Parliament House office, to warn that a shadowy "beast" was stirring. Soon it would monster the Labor-Liberal duopoly.

It was among the most bizarre, ethereal pressers I ever attended, pipped only by the circus of Clive Palmer jointly appearing with Al Gore.

In the current lingo of the fringe-o-sphere, that major-party duopoly is derided as a "uniparty". Its adherents insist that the big parties exaggerate their differences while actually being in cahoots. Invariably, the arguments goes, they will side with corporate and elite interests rather than ordinary folk.

It's a seductive idea as living standards decline and problems accumulate. And it is not without material examples - take electoral laws designed to favour incumbents, a toothless anti-corruption watchdog, and now, gambling reform to which I'll return below.

Somewhat ironically, the uniparty terminology beloved of "real" patriots and anti-globalist conspiracists, is imported from the US and UK. Nationalism, it turns out, is globally linked and funded.

Far-right populists are forever flying business class to each other's shindigs to perfect fundraising and disinformation practices, and to commune on podcasts, conference stages, and television programs.

That said, a more good-natured cynicism around institutional politics has a long history in Australia.

"It doesn't matter who you vote for, a politician always wins" joked one man light-heartedly to my........

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