ANALYSIS
Britain's got Brexit. The United States has Donald Trump.
Anger and resentment, expressed through poking the eye of the elite, are the trend in the Anglophone world as developed countries grapple with changes such as large scale immigration and relative economic decline.
Is Australia headed the same way? The most obvious comparison, according to former politicians and experts, is the rising vote of minor parties and independents, in particular South Australian independent Nick Xenophon. 
But that's a far cry from the kind of demagoguery and anger elsewhere, and there are reasons why Australia is different, experienced hands say, though with the structural changes to the economy that need to be made, we may not always be immune.
Former prime minister John Howard told Sky News on Monday that Australia was different because it had immigration under control and had not seen its sovereignty slip away. Populist resentment was "nowhere near to the same degree" as it was in the US, he said.
"We don't have the hollowing out of the middle class that's occurring in the United States. One of the reasons Donald Trump has done so well is that middle class America has seen its living standards fall quite dramatically."
Former Liberal leader John Hewson agreed any populist backlash in Australia "isn't anywhere near the Brexit vote and what we're seeing in Trump".
But he warned that Australia was "kicking the challenges down the road" by putting off much-needed but painful economic reform, which he said was "politically harder than its ever been".
"There has to be that come-to-God moment where people do explain the reality of these changes," he said. "That's what worries me about where we are today."
Dr Hewson described Senator Xenophon as "just a populist" while Mr Howard has been even unkinder, comparing the South Australian to Pauline Hanson because of his attacks on free trade deals - a comparison Senator Xenophon has furiously rejected.
Senator Xenophon said that "if populism means you listen to people and do the right thing in terms of jobs and economic benefits by being hard-headed on trade deals ??? I'll wear that as a badge of honour".
Former Western Australian premier Geoff Gallop cited three differences: Brexit had an "enemy" or scapegoat to focus on in the form of Brussels, Australia's mining boom has mitigated the erosion of manufacturing and the pain of the global financial crisis, and the Australian electorate is more pragmatic than the US.
"When people get a bit into the bullshit arena, Australians pull back. They're not attracted to demagogues," said Professor Gallop, now director of the Graduate School of Government at the University of Sydney.
But he added: "There's no doubt that whoever wins the next election is going to have to have a restless electorate, reflected in a restless Senate and possibly even a restless lower house ... Independents will take the voice of populism into the Parliament." 
Nick Economou, a political scientist at Monash University, warned against assuming the British and American situations were the same, much less drawing parallels with Australia.
"There are changes going on ??? As countries move from industrial to post-industrial economies there are going to be winners and losers.
"But I think we should wait for the election first before we declare the end of the major political parties," he said.
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