History almost repeats with our not entirely unprecedented PM

The uninspiring level of national leadership evident over the past two and a bit years has a precedent. It mirrors the hiatus, stretching over a similar length of time, which occurred during an earlier trying time for the nation.

This earlier ordeal comprised Australia's experience of unfocused government during the first few years of the Second World War.

World War II began, for Australia, on September 3, 1939. But the immediate heightened sense of crisis failed to produce a corresponding outbreak of cohesion and purpose. Over the next few years Australia went through a period of wobbly national leadership.

The fragility was endemic. It was evident even before Australia went to war.

In March 1939 attorney-general Robert Menzies, restless and extremely ambitious, resigned from the federal cabinet then led by an unhappy Joseph Lyons.

Lyons died soon after. Menzies became his successor after he defeated the aged Billy Hughes in a party room ballot.

Menzies was beleaguered from the start. His party - the United Australia Party - governed in coalition with the Country Party (today's National Party) which was led by Earle Page. As soon as the UAP chose its new leader Page withdrew from the Coalition and denounced Menzies' lack of support for Lyons in a blistering personal attack.

So a few months later, when war broke out, Menzies was a minority prime minister with credibility issues.

In the autumn of 1940, with a federal election looming, the Country Party, having dumped Page, re-entered the Coalition.

But the nation was still seriously divided.

The war at this stage, just like the pandemic today, aroused strong passions. There were militant anti-war activists back then just as there are restless anti-vaxxers now.

During 1939-41 anti-war sentiment was fostered by the Communist Party, Stalin then being in an informal alliance with Nazi Germany. For a while Communists effectively controlled the New South Wales branch of the Labor Party leading to intense factionalism.

A wartime federal election took place, as scheduled, on September 21, 1940. A divided Labor Party faced up to a Coalition government dogged by leadership issues. Voters, in their wisdom, refused to give either flawed side a majority in the lower house. Two Independents from Victoria - Alex Wilson (Wimmera) and Arthur Coles (Henty) - held the balance of power.

Faced with this impasse, Labor leader John Curtin opted for patience. He bided his time. His ascension was facilitated by the easing of fractiousness in the broader labour movement. Anti-war agitation ceased overnight when Germany invaded Russia in June 1941.

The UAP, in contrast, continued to fray. Billy Hughes, our prime minister during the First World War, wanted to reprise this earlier role. His presence added to the government's woes when a royal commission examined his role in setting up a secret fund to buy support for the government on the home front.

Such unseemliness - irregular use of public funds is never a good look - grated at a time when the nation was meant to be united in defence of a noble cause.

Growing pressure forced Menzies to stand down as prime minister in August 1941.

The Country Party's Arthur Fadden succeeded him briefly until the two Independents in the lower house swung their support behind Labor and Curtin became prime minister.

All this politicking occurred just a few months before Pearl Harbor and the fall of Singapore. Surely the governments of Menzies and Fadden should have been focused on the coming onslaught rather than on matters of day to day political management and survival.

Curtin, having restored a sense of purpose and vision as prime minister, smashed the UAP in the 1943 federal election. Such was its shame that the UAP promptly did a vanishing act - although Craig Kelly and Clive Palmer have seen fit to resuscitate its name of late - and rebranded itself as the Liberal Party.

Throughout the two crucial years leading up to his 1943 triumph Curtin needed the support of the Independents Wilson and Coles. Their opting for Curtin over the UAP is an all too rare example, in politics, of promotion by merit.

Which brings us up sharply to the imminent 2022 election. Independents are again a force to be reckoned with. Three were elected in 2019. A growing number of current and aspiring Independent lower house members are campaigning in suburbs and communities across the nation. They are bent on holding the balance of power, reprising 1941-43.

During these two memorable years Curtin was supported by Independents who represented non-Labor seats - Wimmera and Henty.

Those among the aspiring Independent cohort of 2022 who do get up may well represent a traditionally non-Labor seat. They would however be conforming to a strong historic precedent if they refused to be beholden to the Coalition in any way.

Anthony Albanese has largely been a non-abrasive Opposition Leader. Not scorning the support of Independents would fit in with this approach.

Back in 1940 Curtin was not swept into office in an electoral landslide. Instead he cooperated with the Independents of his day. Together, in 1941, they joined forces to exclude Scott Morrison's inept predecessors from office.

This precedent is something that can be worked on.