it just seemed so easy for fear and disinformation to win.

This is not surprising. Answers are not complicated because humans are not really that complicated.

We have an aging population and it’s a fact that as people age they feel fear, fear because they are physically weaker than when they were young, they also feel they don’t fully understand society anymore and may be confused by all the changes. It’s far too easy to appeal to the past , when old people felt stronger, and say the past was better etc etc

Better change will come when the population demographics changes , as the older boomers pass on. The younger people will act out of compassion, courage and a positive belief in the future again

But please remember the boomers also voted in Whitlam, not all are conservatives