Parliament’s “preference whisperer” and senior adviser to former Labor senator Fatima Payman says no religious-based, single-issue party will succeed at the next election despite escalating conflict in the Middle East overshadowing domestic politics.

Glenn Druery, who joined Senator Payman’s team this year after her high-profile defection from the Labor Party, described religious-based politics in Australia as “a dead duck,” but predicted the next federal election would be ripe for savvy minor parties.