As a hapless Malcolm Turnbull tries to hold a fragmenting Liberal Party together, commentary focused on individual failures is overlooking that a once in a century political realignment is occurring.

Every 50 or 100 years our politics undergoes a major realignment. Technological and economic change empowers a new group of people who start pushing for greater access to opportunities, rights and protections.

Examples of this historic process have been the rise of the working classes and feminism.

Around the time of Australia's federation, mass production and unions combined to empower the working classes to seek a better deal. They created the Labor Party as they drove higher wages and the growth of the welfare state that would provide public health and education.