Today, we saw what will inevitably be the last moment where the Australian Labor Party (formerly the SDP) will wield any influence in Australian politics on any sort of scale. It was the vote of dyljam, the sole ALP senator, that sunk this government's budget. On the surface, this may seem reasonable. The ALP's rightward swing has seen it lose Capricornia MP ARichTeaBiscuit to the Greens, and side with the Commonwealth Party and the Liberals on matters such as QANTAS nationalisation.

But this is, like many things about the modern ALP, not about principle. It is solely about power. Both Crikey and the Times of Ballarat have reported that dyljam offered to simply abstain on the budget to Prime Minister model-slater in exchange for an endorsement in Lingiari, where dyljam clearly intends to transfer in the coming election.

While, in the short term, this may be a good move for the Prime Minister politically, ensuring that he can get his budget passed, it would be a great loss for the people of Australia. To replace BestinBounds of the Country Labor Party, who is by far one of the most effective representatives the Top End has seen in a long while, with a power-hungry carpetbagger would be the wrong move, which is why the Prime Minister put principles over politics. He let his own largest legislative achievement fail, because he did not want to compromise on principles. That is admirable.

But the Australian people can take solace in one thing. The Australian Labor Party will likely never be able to hold such influence in this nation again. In a recent press piece, I said that the ALP should either gain a coherent policy platform or dissolve in order for each member to grasp for power themselves. One month later, and with the election drawing ever-closer, they have done neither.

At the start of this term, the ALP had four parliamentary representatives. Only two are likely to contest the coming election. Rohanite272's election prospects in Cunningham are tenuous at best given that winning his extremely marginal seat required a preference deal with the Liberals. Presuming that dyljam does not run back to the Senate with his tail between his legs, his bid for Lingiari will almost certainly fail against the popular local representative BestinBounds, who is likely to have government backing in either preferences or endorsements.

On the polling numbers currently, the incumbent government would hold a majority in the House of Representatives, and would win a majority in the Senate. If the ALP is not wiped out entirely, it is likely that they will be deprived of power. And with no power and no coherent policy platform, it appears likely that the ALP will quietly fade away into the night, their final "achievement" being that they deprived Australians of a budget that most of their voters likely support because they couldn't score themselves a safe seat in Parliament.