What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward

Punters are sick of eating expensive nothing burgers cooked up by these two unoriginal placeholders. 

I missed most of the action while travelling and returned to a Covid re-run of politicians legislating around the edges of a logistical problem. Put it this way, if Labor ran a retail store they’d solve a missing box of stock by restricting trading hours and adding a surcharge to customers wearing shorts. They’d never find the box, but they could tell head office they were ‘doing something’.

Jim Chalmers is ‘doing something’. He’s scribbling ‘fuel crisis’ into the margins of his Budget reform package, nibbling a KitKat while the rest of us brace for new mortgage rates. He’s the only one working hard – and we really wish he’d take a break.

Angus Taylor and the Opposition barely noticed because they were too busy performing ‘last rites’ for the Victorian Liberals. Yes, Moira Deeming may yet keep her seat on the preselection ticket, but there’s a fair bit of blood and embarrassment on the partyroom floor while a few moderate powerbrokers can be heard chanting prayers in the shadows.

My latest edition of What did I miss? Australia's political week in fast-forward in The Spectator Australia.

The week where Anthony Albanese has taken his jerry cans to Asia to 'panic buy' fuel while telling the country 'not to panic'.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Penny Wong joins world leaders in their bid to 'talk' the Strait of Hormuz open and Donald Trump picks off what's left of… pic.twitter.com/u1wJYknv64

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 3, 2026