Watching the circus that was the Republican convention to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy was enough to make Australian voters such as myself deeply grateful for the dull and boring election campaign we have just been through.

To see the serried ranks of Trump followers fervently applauding and encouraging their favoured candidate to utter the platitudes and slogans that compile his election speeches, the thumbs up signs, the hand clapping, the false smiles, should have made us appreciate the comparatively sedate and civilised manner of our two main prime ministerial candidates.