How reassuring was the Sussan Ley expenses fracas, an underwhelming tizz over a minor infraction. It was as if there are still rules to be obeyed in a world seemingly determined to break all of them.
Yes, with Ley gone, the Turnbull ministry is considerably diminished, as is her pay. A capable minister was removed from a government in dire need of capable ministers, gone despite others being far more deserving of relegation to the backbench.
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If only Peter Dutton had been the one to buy yet another investment property for his portfolio on a work trip. Instead, he merely committed the politically survivable indulgence of charging taxpayers $3929 for an extravagant meal in Washington, DC.
Neither expenses controversies managed to end the news silly season. Among this year's pointless entries were an insufferable saga about one TV talking head telling another to get changed, and an astonishing revelation that an accountant in Sydney is getting divorced.
But as vapid as those stories were, the reassurance of the Ley departure was real. She was forced to quit for breaking a basic rule of Australian politics, that politicians shouldn't take liberties with public money. Her resignation demonstrates that those fundamental rules still apply, at least in Australia, and that even in the absence of a federal anti-corruption body, any hint of unjustified use of public funds for personal benefit, even modest and seemingly within the rules, is still considered intolerable.
Sadly, this silly season also reminded us, if any reminder were needed, that Australians continue to tolerate the imposition of indefinite detention on those fleeing persecution who have committed no crime. And it established that the government will tolerate – praise, even – Centrelink firstly wrongly demanding repayment from thousands of the most vulnerable Australians, then freezing its response when people rightly complained. But the fact that a cabinet minister did some personal investing on a work-funded trip and had to resign because of it shows that there remain in Australia rules that politicians cannot both break and hope to stay in the job.
You can't say the same thing in the US, where on Friday power is handed to an embarrassing buffoon determined to be entirely unembarrassed about ignoring sensible political conventions, established diplomatic norms, or the law.
The uncertainty of the world in the Era of Big Orange is almost overwhelming in its scale: just how bad will be the looming catastrophe of the Trump presidency? Will it merely inflict four years of humiliation on the US, strip vulnerable people of basic health care, and flood the place with guns making it too dangerous to visit, or will he take the rest of the world down with his compatriots, of whom far more voted for the other candidate?
He's already ignoring solid conventions – like releasing tax returns and not attacking the CIA – and planning to breach actual laws, like the anti-nepotism rules which are meant to prevent presidents hiring family members. If only his contempt for due process was limited to matters for the Americans to worry about, we could just observe the chaos from afar. Their system produced him, they have to live with him. But the scary global effect of a handover from thoughtful, cautious president to a thin-skinned narcissist is about to become real.
The cavalier attitude of his administration threatens to undermine the world order on which the livelihood of a trade-dependant country like Australia relies. If 2016 was a rubbish year that proved that nations can and will take decisions inflicting immense self-harm, 2017 is the year in which we harvest the consequences.
After Brexit, the collapse of the European Union no longer seems impossible, especially with German and French elections this year amid the rise of the right and the readiness of Russia to nudge voters its preferred way. Armed conflict in our region between the two major powers no longer seems far-fetched. Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has taken a dangerous position on China's moves in the South China Sea, prompting Paul Keating to warn it threatens to involve Australia in a war with China.
And who knows if Trump's anti-trade bluster will convert into action that prompts a trade war, or what future awaits the Paris climate change agreement he thinks he can tear up. Australian politicians have plenty to get on with – balancing the budget, for a start – but the depressing reality of the handover this week is that among the greatest risks to our continuing good fortune are those entirely out of our control.
Tim Dick is a Sydney lawyer.
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