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How 'populist delivery' could rescue the political middle

Voters globally are drifting to extremes. Australia may be spared the worst for now, but only bold reform and faster delivery can keep the centre afloat.

Elliot Stein Elliot is a former chief of staff to federal and state cabinet ministers. He has worked in public policy in Australia and the US.
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A wave of discontent is reshaping global politics, with far-right movements on the rise and centrists under pressure, argues Eliott Stein. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin.

A roiling ocean of discontent is sweeping across the democratic world, challenging the establishment model of centrist governments. Australia has largely dodged the wave of extremism so far, but we are not immune.

Only with a new way of thinking can the centre hold. A new model of populist delivery is urgently needed by centre-left and centre-right parties alike.

Last year the world clocked a remarkable achievement: more people voted in democratic elections than at any other time in human history. 2024 was the year of democracy.

Yet that historic moment of public decision-making has now given way to a September of discontent. Major upheavals over a fast fortnight have exposed the weaknesses of the democratic project.

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