The outstanding feature of the 2016 federal election was that immigration, refugees, ethnic integration and multiculturalism were scarcely mentioned by the major parties, but they were focused on mainly by the Greens and a hostile Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (PHON). The epic separation of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU), which ran almost parallel to the Australian campaign, centred on resentment about the EU basic policy of free movement of goods and migrants. Moreover, continuing warfare and terrorism in the Middle East kept Islam in the forefront of public discussion as a major threat. Australia retreated into the safety of traditional suburban issues: jobs, incomes, health and education. Many of the debated issues were within the province of State governments rather than the Commonwealth. The cross-country high-speed train debate emerged again from darkness. The elections in Queensland (QLD) and Tasmania (TAS) were especially parochial, but not unique. The Labor leader Bill Shorten leaped ahead with the threat to Medicare. The Coalition simply repeated the old tale of the budgetary mess that Labor had left behind such as the asylum seeker deaths by drowning they had caused. PHON, marginal Liberals and odd Independents kept up an uninformed barrage against Muslims, which had a very limited reaction from the party leaders (Chan 2016).