And when the music stops you can... freeze!

As Australia’s politicians gyrated in a wild collective dance, our cartoonists periodically pressed pause on the music to capture moments of grace and charm, spins and flourishes – and the occasional ‘face plant’. For the most part, cartoonists fixed their gaze on the performance of our two major political parties and their leaders.

In 2023 Albanese’s Labor government enjoyed its first anniversary and all the thrills of an ALP National Conference. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton led the Liberal Party into plummeting polls, and a by-election stumble in Aston early in the year, only to grasp a later by-election win in the seat of Fadden. A number of veteran politicians ran out of puff and resigned from politics altogether, some in protest, some in disgrace.