When people switch on the television news, or open a newspaper or website, the story of the day in federal politics is one politician besting the other, or putting the other in his or her place.

It is the default lens through which we interpret the Westminister system (this columnist is as guilty as any other workaday reporter).

But as 2016 winds down, it's worth pondering how frame of reference has contributed to election results in western democracies – and to the rise of the "outsider" politician.

In the election of Donald Trump, the triumph of the Brexit campaign and, in Australia, the election of four Pauline Hanson One Nation senators, three Nick Xenophon senators and a phalanx of disparate crossbenchers, voters have sent a clear message: "the system is not working for us, and we are dissatisfied with our elected representatives".

Both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have taken a stab at identifying the problem. Both men speak of the need for inclusive growth, more affordable housing, good jobs that pay a good wage, and for a system that facilitates a rising tide that lifts all boats, not just the yachts.

But voters are far from convinced; just 45 per cent of people approved of the job Turnbull was doing in the November Fairfax-Ipsos poll, while just 37 per cent approved of the job Shorten was doing. For Turnbull, in particular, the fall in his personal standing has been precipitous (though such stratospheric popularity was never going to last).

The numbers from the July 2 election tell a similar story; in the people's house, just 42 per cent of voters put the Coalition first, and just short of 35 per cent backed Labor. The Greens aren't sure if they are a party for insiders or outsiders and are wrestling with the Democrats' conundrum; they, too, went backwards on July 2.

This year was not a blip on the radar – 2017 promises more of the same.

Turnbull has proven himself unwilling to take on the conservative wing of his party over totemic issues such as an emissions intensity scheme (a form of carbon pricing) for the electricity sector or over same-sex marriage.

Similarly Shorten has shown he is unwilling to tackle the shibboleths of the labour movement, upon which he relies so heavily for political support, or reform the Labor Party itself.

Both men buy peace through compromise and reinforce the image of politician-as-insider.

But as 2017 rolls around, a younger class of politicians – the next generation of would-be party leaders – are grappling with the insider-outsider question and how to re-engage voters.

In a little-noticed speech on Friday, Labor's newish finance spokesman Jim Chalmers – just 38 years young – addressed an ANU graduation lunch.

Chalmers has – as he pointed out in the speech – the quintessential insider's CV: a PhD in political science from one of Australia's best universities, deputy chief of staff to opposition leader Kim Beazley, chief of staff to treasurer Wayne Swan, member of parliament and precocious shadow minister.

But, he says, "every day I try and think like an outsider".

"Your degree from an extraordinary university like this is a ticket to the 'inside', to the 'establishment' – but you've got to try and think like an outsider."

"We are not here – you are not here – to replicate our heroes' triumphs – but to transcend them. You can do better than join the club, and be part of some insider stitch-up; you can bust the clubs open, you can make social and economic mobility the defining feature of our future not just our past. The only way to do that – and this is my advice today – is to think like outsiders.

"So much of the next decade's challenges, and so many of the things we need to do to spread opportunity to places like my part of the country [Logan, in outer-suburban Brisbane], will demand that we shake the place up a bit ... so I want you to shake things up as well."

On the other side of the country and at the opposite end of the political spectrum, is Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, who holds the sprawling seat of Canning, a seat on the urban fringe which comprises wealthy retirees, tradies, FIFOs and young families struggling to pay their mortgage, and suffers high unemployment rates.

Hastie is a Scots College, University of NSW and RMC Duntroon graduate; before politics, he was a captain in the SAS: another insider's CV. But like the Labor man, he diagnoses a similar problem in disaffection with the political class and believes that thinking like an outsider is part of the solution.

However, while Chalmers believes Labor's program – tackling negative gearing and capital gains tax breaks, increased funding for health and education and a greater role for the state – is the answer, Hastie advocates a return to the principle of subsidiarity, that "those closest to the problem are best equipped to solve it".

That means, for Hastie, a greater focus on civil society; churches, footy clubs, Lions and Rotary groups, and community engagement; government is not the answer and, sometimes at least, it is the obstacle.

"Civil society and the pre-political intuitions, which form its make-up, need to grow again and be vibrant," he says.

"That will be the difference, if we are going to change the trends we are seeing [in politics]."

"If you were born in 1940, you had a 90 per cent chance of bettering your parents," he says, "if you were born in 1980, you have a 50 per cent chance of bettering your parents."

The middle class is, he argues, disintegrating and in its place is polarisation – the wealthy and the rest. Voters – at least in Canning – are concerned about stagnant wages, the hour-plus drive to work and job security.

So how to turn it around? Hastie argues that tackling housing affordability – an area the Turnbull government has only dipped its toe in the water over – is crucial. He also supports income splitting for single-income households "to give them a break and to recognise the imputed labour that goes into parenting, if mum or dad chooses to stay at home and look after the kids".

Labor's Clare O'Neil, another rising star of the political class with an insider's CV, nominates two issues that must be tackled in 2017 to address the rise in outsider disaffection.

The first is the breakdown of political consensus, the end of the era of agreed facts and the rise of fake news and, second, the need to reform the Parliament itself, to restore trust.

"You can't put the genie back in the bottle with fake news, but we need to talk about the issues that matter for people most," she says, adding that "politicians need to create an agenda the mainstream can get behind, rather than focusing on niche issues ... and have an evidence-based policy framework that reduces inequality".

Referring to her book Two Futures, written with fellow Labor MP Tim Watts, she is brutal in her assessment of Capital Hill: "Question time is the ground zero of the contempt cycle for Australian politics ... we need to think about re-scheduling it so more people watch it, get rid of Dorothy Dixers, re-engage people in politics directly and think about how politicians conduct themselves".

The final word on how the political class can re-engage voters belongs to Liberal MP Angus Taylor, a Rhodes scholar and former management consultant who is now the assistant minister for one of Turnbull's passions – the transformation of cities.

"Addressing the divide we are seeing between insiders and outsiders is crucial," he says "and it will only become more important, that is central to our cities policy.

"We need growth that includes good jobs in outer suburban areas and the regions ...we have gotten to a point where people buy a job by buying an expensive home near job centres.

"The escalation of house prices, close to our CBDs, has been a major factor in what we are seeing and I am convinced that the major driver of that has been a shortage of [housing] supply in Sydney and Melbourne. It needs to be addressed, that's what we are seeking to do in our cities policy."

There is, of course, an irony in four political insiders – rising stars all, future national leaders – grappling with the rise of the outsider, and the solutions that serve as an antidote to rising disaffection.

But as 2017 roles around, and politics continues to fracture, it's also refreshing to know the debate is under way. Because politics as political combat just doesn't cut it any more.

James Massola is chief political reporter. Peter Hartcher is on leave.

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