Stranded: Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull after the High Court ruled Barnaby Joyce to be ineligible to be elected. Credit:Andrew Meares But this? This is "next level" chaos, extending beyond disruptive antics in the House, to the much deeper question of who legally occupies the chamber from which the very government is drawn. Already, the Coalition's absolute majority has been obliterated - if temporarily. For a stranded Malcolm Turnbull, it must feel as if the music has stopped and he is the one left standing. The German social theorist Jurgen Habermas coined the term "legitimation crisis" in the mid-1970s to describe the observable decline in public confidence in governments, public institutions, and systematic political leadership.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen He only knew the half of it. Since then, the state's withdrawal to the margins under the name of neo-liberalism, has ushered in an era of super-profits, and given way more recently, to the casualisation of work and the digitisation of everything, including public discourse. Confidence shifted from the state to the "superior" rationality of private capital. Efficient, agile. Nationals MPs, including leaders Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash (right), who were recently found ineligible by the High Court. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen But the GFC, endemic tax avoidance, environmental destruction, and capital flights in search of cheap labour, have shredded that confidence too.

Cynicism abounds. Populists offer quick fixes. Expertise speaks the language of the elites. Experience is the new baggage. Illustration: Matt Golding. This citizenship crisis is pitch-perfect for these times, which only makes it more dangerous. Against the lofty constitutional notion of sole allegiance (and its corollary, multiculturalism) it pits the everyday notion of a "dinky-di Aussie". Against the berobed High Court, and the arcane constitution it interprets, it pits contemporary practicalities, common sense.

And in the context of cascading citizenship bombshells, it pits a loathed political class of parties and the press gallery, against a disintegrated but newly expressive populace hell-bent on proving that the establishment was always serving itself. And here it seems, is that proof. Politicians who cannot fill in forms. MPs who make law but demand exemption from it. Political parties who cower behind secrecy insisting they've complied absolutely while refusing to furnish any proof. Loading Politicians insisting it's all business-as-usual, miss the point that this is actually the grievance. Follow us on Facebook