In the recent sell-out season of Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest at the Genesian Theatre, one character responds to another, a candidate contesting a by election for the Liberals, with the line, “Are they still at it?”.

In light of the latest machinations in Canberra, the line brought the house down, illustrating the laughing stock current Australian politics has become.

Rife for satire now perhaps more than ever, Ken Saunders skewers the Australian political scene with his debut novel, 2028, and scores a direct hit targeting a political machine more focused on polling than policy, hypocrisy than democracy, and stagnation rather than governance.

To sustain anarchic humour for 305 pages is among the hardest things a novelist can attempt. Having espoused the illogical, the surreal, he must attempt a coalition with logic and reality.

In 2028, Ken Saunders succeeds in taking us by surprise in a story of perpetual ambush.

Incessantly unpredictable, 2028 fast forwards us a decade into the future where Australian politics has seemingly slipped backwards, oxymoronically suffering a trajectory of stagnation.

Long standing sitting Liberal Party Prime Minister Fitzwilliams thinks it’s a perfect time to call a snap election and secure a fourth term – his cabinet is a tepid crew, but adequate, Labor is lacklustre and the Greens are in receivership.

What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty.

A sleeper cell party, lying dormant for a decade, activates with a gentle but effective anarchy. Called The Luddites, the party was formed on April Fools Day 2019 when two thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven Australian citizens stormed their respective state registries of births, deaths and marriages and changed their name by deed poll to Ned Ludd.

2028’s primary target is the obsession with polls and the 24 hour news cycle where the pursuit of transparency renders politicians paralysed.

Central to the Luddites platform is the destruction of polls, or at least the perversion of them, forcing political parties to formulate policies and get on with the job of governing.

Farcical to the point of being frightfully, foresightedly factual, 2028 grapples with the big picture of Australian politics and offers policies that are absurdly attractive.

Compulsively comedic and addictively anarchic, 2028 gets my vote as the funniest read of the year.

2028 by Ken Saunders is published by Allen & Unwin