On Saturday, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles observed “there are precious few moments when you get to be in the presence of history”. He’s not wrong, the Aston byelection result was historic. But it was a historic result rendered less surprising though not less significant by the political conditions fashioned by the true architect of the modern Liberal Party’s enduring malaise: Howard.

Source: How the ghost of John Howard haunted the Aston byelection.