Australia has voted for its politics to remain Australian, using its uniquely Australian model of democracy to re-elect an emphatically Australian prime minister. One way of interpreting the Labor landslide, the Liberal demolition and the Greens’ dismissal is as a rejection of Americanisation, and a collective act of Australianisation.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Anthony Albanese’s lack of star power is essential to his appeal.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Let’s not be reductionist. Other factors were at play: a self-sabotaging campaign from what used to be one of the world’s most efficient election-winning machines; the paucity of policy formation from a Liberal Party bereft of talent and ideas; a stance from Peter Dutton on working from home that proved as fissile as his nuclear fixation. Nonetheless, the Trump factor was transformative. It negated anti-incumbency, the most powerful force in global politics in 2024, and weakened a conservative leader who thought the rightward cultural vibe shift at the time of Trump’s restoration would carry him to The Lodge.

Because of a delayed election day due to Cyclone Alfred, the effects of Typhoon Trump were more fully apparent by the time Australia finally went to the polls. The slapstick of “Liberation Day” – pity those poor penguins on Heard and McDonald islands punished with tariffs. The chaos of Elon........

© The Sydney Morning Herald