A fascinating event occurred at the ALP national conference last weekend. No, it was not that the left wing dutifully went along with the plan to build our very own nuclear submarines as part of the Aukus deal. That was always predictable. But what was really startling was the way in which the party extricated itself from the obvious clash between wanting to be seen as responsible on defence and hence supporting Aukus and yet, at the same time, hanging on to the remaining threads of its left-wing, peacenik, lovey-dovey idealism, an important issue for the ALP as it fights...