Forming the next government: Accepting real change always hard

FOR the next while those who would, and those who could but won’t, help form the next government need to be dispassionately objective and far more patient than they naturally are.

Those entrenched stormtroopers who so colourfully rule out a partnership that in the real, grown-up world seems an entirely rational option need to embrace a new, unfamiliar humility. They need to listen to what was said by the entire electorate, not just their cheerleading, one-eyed supporters.

In extreme, no surrender cases, and there are several, a period of reflection bordering on silence might be helpful as the old, tried-and-failed paradigm of the two-and-and-half party turn-and-about-turn domination of our political process has had a silver stake driven through its heart. The past is often described as a foreign country but, in the context of our new, unmapped political landscape, it’s an entirely different galaxy.