The Australian Federation started life with the Labour, Free Trade and Protectionist parties splitting the seats in Parliament. This week's election shows that it seems to be tracking back towards a situation where up to one third of voters want to choose a party other than the Labor or Liberal National Coalition.
And that is despite the preferential voting system and the recent changes to Senate voting rules making it harder to translate popular sentiment into actual seats in parliament.
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Greg Earl is an editor and writer. He was the AFR deputy editor, opinion editor, Asia-Pacific editor and a correspondent in Jakarta, Tokyo and New York. Connect with Greg on Twitter.
