PARTY membership has been in decline in liberal democracies for some time, and this trend is no more apparent than in Australia. The concern is not whether parties, like AFL clubs, can boast masses of staunch season-ticket holders. In the Facebook age, people everywhere are less inclined to bind themselves to the rules of organisations and prefer to opt in and out of causes fluidly, on the basis of individual issues.

The real concern is the unhinging of parties from their social bases, which has caused a drift of politics away from substantive debate. This trend is played out in the mirrored halls of knee-jerk reactions to opinion polls and media management. The major parties sense they are adrift without a compass ...