Every time a conservative government is elected in Australia, and it happens all too frequently, then I hope for the best. Maybe this time the new government will more reasonable, more centrist. Perhaps the nascent administration will eschew the language of the punisher, decide to be more inclusive and less mean spirited.

Within a month, these hopes are dashed. The Abbott Government is as predictable as its predecessors. Self-righteous, arrogant and fed by its own implausible dogmas, the script unfolds as if carved into a tablet centuries before. But here it is, in our very midst, in the modern era.