Ta-ta, Bill Shorten, the coming man always and the great never was

The most significant Australian election of modern times was in… 1998, when Kim Beazley went down to John Howard, the Bomber gaining a mere 50.9% of the two-party-preferred vote. Whaaaaaaat? Yes, Howard retained the prime ministership with only 49.1% of the vote, suffering a massive hit over the GST but still winning 13 more seats than Labor, 80 to 67.

The reason usually cited is Labor’s rotting old factional system delivered so many duff candidates, selected through stacked branches and dealmaking at the top, that it saw a plunging vote in electorates where this fresh meat was stored, thus distorting the vote spread.