THE Brexit forces of Little England triumphed over the sensible centre and young voters, while “Bumptious Boris” Johnson and “Nasty Nigel” Farage who led the retreat from Europe could barely contain their delight.

Johnson sees it as his great opportunity to grab the prime ministership from the departing David Cameron, while Farage’s “traditionalist” message is a replay of the racist streak that disfigured Britain’s colonial history.

The immediate consequences will exacerbate the economic and migration turmoil in Europe, the Middle East and the US where “Daffy Donald” Trump applauded and Hillary Clinton bemoaned the result.

PM Malcolm Turnbull was torn between statesmanlike disappointment at the disruption and the sudden realisation that it will favour his “steady hand at the tiller” in the Federal election. “It will create a shock,” he said, “so we’ll need strong economic leadership from a majority Coalition Government.”

To historians, it’s another step in the waning of an empire.

BREXIT also played into Australia’s history wars as the “traditionalist” Tony Abbott contradicted Turnbull’s description of the British “invasion” in 1788, calling it a “settlement” or an “occupation”. “I wouldn’t use the word invasion,” he said, “because that connotes the primacy of armed force.” (The latest research shows an Aboriginal death toll in the frontier wars of almost 60,000.)

IN our own campaign, Turnbull delivered his best performance on the ABC’s “Q&A”, despite a dose of the ‘flu, while Bill Shorten ducked and weaved from Leigh Sales’ bouncers on “7.30”. Opinion polls have Labor winning a bunch of marginals – including Eden-Monaro – but according to the pundits not enough to take government. And that was before Brexit.

EVEN closer to home, the Barr-Rattenbury government took a broadside amidships when the WA government scrapped its light rail plan for Perth, sacrificing the $25 million already spent. WA Transport Minister Dean Nalder said “it no longer stacks up financially”. CM Andrew Barr says if the local Libs abandon the Gungahlin tram the cost will be up to $400 million. If so, it shows how irresponsible he was in signing contracts before an election in which light rail was a central issue.

AT the same time Lib Senator Zed Seselja said the Feds had agreed to move an undisclosed government agency to Gungahlin. So, would that mean less travel on the tram? It’s certainly what Walter Burley Griffin had in mind when he designed the five town centres.

THE one issue, Federal and State, that caused the greatest chatter was the same-sex marriage plebiscite. It seemed just a waste of $160 million until Penny Wong spoke of the potentially painful nature of a “debate” on the rights of the gay community. And Turnbull says he’ll give Libs a conscience vote anyway. Truth is, it was a device from his predecessor designed to delay gay marriage at any cost.

SEXUAL sensitivities were much on show over the “banter” by the ubiquitous Collingwood president Eddie McGuire about drowning “The Age’s” sports writer Caroline Wilson. McGuire seemed unrepentant until the Magpies’ major sponsor Holden declared itself “hugely unhappy”. Some of us turned off his evening TV show “Millionaire Hot Seat” in protest but, alas, the alternatives were so dreadful we swallowed our pride.

robert@robertmacklin.com