Dutton panics over ‘Muslim candidates’. But our parliaments are designed to be hung

This is an instalment of Forget the Frontbench, a column interrogating politicians who wield power beyond the major parties.

The Coalition ahead on the two-party-preferred vote. The defection from Labor of Senator Fatima Payman, amid an outpouring of support. The success of The Muslim Vote in the UK, which should be “gravely alarming” to the ALP in Western Sydney (and yet). Le doux soulagement of the French runoff, in which no party won a majority, with power to be shared among a left-leaning alliance.