Back in 2019, I wrote that Australia had reached a crossroads. At the time, the concern was Labor’s tax agenda, which I believed deliberately pitted younger Australians against their parents and grandparents by portraying aspiration and financial security as something to resent rather than admire.
Today, in 2026, that strategy has evolved. It is no longer just about tax. Division has become the defining political strategy.
Australians are now routinely divided by generation, gender, wealth, race, climate, identity and postcode. Rather than bringing people together around shared values and common purpose, politics increasingly encourages Australians to view one another as competing interest groups.
Governments benefit when communities are divided. A population arguing amongst itself is far less likely to scrutinise those exercising power. While Australians fight each other over cultural and political fault lines, attention is diverted from government performance, economic management and declining living standards.
One of the reasons I remain hopeful is because we’ve been here before.
In 2019, Australians were presented with a politics that, in my view, sought to divide generations through tax policy. The electorate rejected it. They looked beyond the rhetoric and refused to reward what many saw as an attempt to pit younger Australians against their parents and grandparents. Whatever else can be said about that election, Australians demonstrated the political wisdom to reject a campaign that relied heavily on division.
Which raises an important question: what changed?
How have we gone from an electorate that rejected division in 2019 to one where division now seems woven into almost every political debate?
The years that followed changed Australia profoundly. The pandemic reshaped how we interacted with one another. Social media increasingly rewarded outrage over thoughtful discussion. Identity politics became more entrenched. Cost-of-living pressures fuelled frustration and made people more susceptible to messages that encouraged them to blame fellow Australians rather than question those making the decisions.
At the same time, the centre-right became increasingly fractured. Instead of uniting around the broad principles they shared, too much energy was spent fighting one another. The rise of One Nation reflects genuine frustration felt by many voters, but it has also fractured the non-Labor vote. Whether intentional or not, the practical effect has been to weaken the broader conservative movement while making Labor’s path to government easier.
One concerning trend in recent political discourse is the idea that certain major parties should simply be “killed off” or eliminated altogether. That sentiment is not healthy for a democracy.
A functioning democracy depends on contestable ideas and a credible opposition. Voters don’t benefit when political competition is replaced with a desire to remove opponents from the system entirely. They benefit when parties are challenged, held to account, and ultimately judged at the ballot box.
When politics shifts from persuasion to elimination, division has already taken hold.
That is why I believe divide and conquer has reached an entirely new level.
Labor benefits when Australians are divided socially, economically and culturally. At the same time, divisions within the centre-right have weakened the electoral alternative. Instead of recognising the bigger picture, too many voters have become consumed by battles within their own side. The public often mistakes this for healthy political competition when, in reality, it simply entrenches those already in power.
The Australia I grew up believing in wasn’t perfect, but it valued fairness, aspiration, family and the idea that hard work should be rewarded. It recognised that generations should support one another, not resent one another. Political disagreement existed, but it wasn’t built on encouraging Australians to see each other as enemies.
That is why I believe the real crossroads remain before us.
The choice is no longer simply between competing tax policies. It is whether we continue rewarding political movements that profit from division, or whether we demand leaders who unite Australians around shared values, practical solutions and a common purpose.
History shows that divided societies rarely flourish. Strong societies are built on trust, mutual respect and a willingness to disagree without tearing each other apart.
In 2019, Australians recognised the trap and rejected it. Seven years later, the trap has become far more sophisticated. It is no longer confined to one election campaign or one policy. It has seeped into our political culture.
If we continue allowing ourselves to be divided by generation, by gender, by race, by wealth or by political tribe we will keep strengthening those who benefit most from our division.
Wasting our time fighting each other achieves nothing. Recognising the trap and demanding politics that unites rather than divides is one of the most important challenges facing Australia today.
