The disconnect driving populist politics

By Adam Wakeling

In May 2025, the Albanese Labor government’s decisive victory suggested that the tides of populism which had inundated Europe and the United States would not reach Australia’s shores. Eighteen months later, with One Nation regularly polling first or second federally and a state level, it’s clear that the same divisions leading to a rejection of mainstream politics in other countries are also present in Australia.

What causes these divisions? Some commentators have pointed to economic inequality. There is definitely an economic element to the dissatisfaction behind the rise of One Nation. But it is only part of the deep and growing divide between society’s ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’.

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