Georgie Burgess
26 August 2026: Every election brings with it changes, from members gathered to those lost, and shake-ups to entire governments – a fine-tuned system based on the competition for executive power between the left and the right, for more than a century.
After years of decay though, it now appears to be collapsing.
Inaugural Director of the Vice-Chancellor’s Centre of Public Ideas (CoPI) and Donald Horne Professor of History and Public Ideas at the University of Canberra, Professor Frank Bongiorno AM delved into this phenomenon during his inagural professorial lecture Monday night.
“We are witnessing a revolution in Australian politics and whatever happens electorally is not just a curiosity,” he said.
“It matters for leadership, including who will represent the country’s identity, as well as every aspect of policy. Therefore, the fate of Australia’s party system has the potential to affect almost every aspect of our shared future.”
In the night’s opening address, the University’s Vice-Chancellor and President Professor The Honourable Bill Shorten reflected on his own time in Parliament House, and how much the People’s House has changed in the last 19 years.
“When I began my political career in 2007, the two-party system still seemed secure. One Nation had already come and gone, to a point where Pauline Hanson had appeared on Dancing with the Stars –which was often considered a career departure lounge– and there were only two independents elected in the House of Representatives,” he said.
“How different it looks now – and the new landscape matters. Not just for the day-to-day political tussle, but for the kinds of policies which can be pursued by a government, which matter for our collective ability to grapple with the many big challenges we face as a people, and as a nation.”
These changes were grappled with by Professor Bongiorno as he explored the apparent unravelling of a party system that came into existence in fits and starts, between 1877 and 1923 –applying historical and political studies in an effort to interpret the present state of Australian democracy in the long run.
The address highlighted the role of the new Centre and the studies taking place at the University.
“Being able to take a present day question and give it historical context, is done in the hope that it might shed some light on the contemporary issue and allow us to see it in a new light, and provides the vessel for the exploration of possible outcomes,” Professor Bongiorno said.
“Now unfortunately, we can’t predict the future! But looking back in time can give us a stronger sense of what the dynamics of this modern issue might be, and where we might end up.”
Professor Bongiorno explored four social, cultural and ideological characteristics of class, religion, race and anti-political political thought throughout the evening, to help explain why this unravelling is being seen.
The Hawke era of politics was pinpointed.
“This era was a critical period in the process of this unmaking, with the disintegration of a long-standing national consensus about the central mission of Australian politics,” Professor Bongiorno said.
“The two-party regime was based on considerable common ground between the parties about the purposes of government but that broke down in the 1980s, with the dismantling of the policy regime of the Australian settlement.”
The turbulence and societal changes that have taken place since were examined – as well as the increasing fragmentation of Australian society.
Professor Shorten stressed the importance of the Centre’s role to restore respect for diverse views across Australia.
“Mis and dis-information cause division that has been fertile ground for extremists and opportunists to exploit. So how do we bring public and political conversation back to being evidence-based and productive?” he said.
“Well, the University of Canberra is very well positioned to host forums to discuss these vexed issues to infuse rationality and scholarly debate back into the arena.”
