A Labor-Green coalition seems the logical next step for both parties. On current figures, together they hold about 50% of the primary vote, to the Liberal-National coalition’s 43%.

But more importantly, they have more in common ideologically than do the Coalition’s members. The undoubted differences between, say, old-school unions and low-growth Greens, pale into insignificance compared to the chasm between small-government Liberals and rural-welfare Nationals, and the general confusion on social issues throughout the Coalition.

But without this strange pairing, conservative national government would be a rarity. It is time the progressive side of politics put aside turf squabbles to level the field in this regard.