On Friday, The Australian Financial Review warned that Senator Fatima Payman’s resignation from the Labor Party with the backing of The Muslim Vote pressure group risked creating a new sectarian divide. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s response was that our editorial was “spot on” and Australia should not “go down the road of faith-based political parties”.

The British general election has underlined the dangers now facing Australia’s political and social cohesion. New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s thumping House of Commons super-majority was due to the Reform Party cutting the throats of Tory candidates in first-past-the-post contests.