September 7 was the first election day I have not spent handing out how-to-vote cards since I was 15. Not for want of trying. I volunteered to do a stint or two on the barricades, provided it was in a tough part of the electorate of Melbourne, like Collingwood or North Fitzroy where I could see the fraternal harmony between Labor and the Greens as they tore each other’s throats out.