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

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The rolling fuel apocalypse is nothing to worry about, insisted the Minister for Panic Buying. 

This week turned out to be an Albanese Method™ masterclass. If there’s one superpower our Prime Minister possesses, it’s the god-like ability to set the house on fire, then burst through the smoke wearing a cape, yelling: ‘I’m here to save you!’

Meanwhile, the rest of us cough up billions in taxes to fund his superhero cape and the Uber that dropped him there.

Staff at the taxpayer-funded outrage factory known the AlBo fan Club went on strike. They’re demanding 10 per cent more of other people’s money to write feel-good propaganda for their comrades. ABC staff were spotted in uptown Ultimo wearing union t-shirts.

Dressing down for the drive from Mosman in their EVs must have been emotionally tough during a fuel crisis…

My latest in The Spectator Australia, What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward.

ABC staff chuck a tantrum while taxpayers foot the bill

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The ABC should remember that when you’re bankrolled by the punters, it’s not a strike, it’s a tantrum.

From Hong Kong: While the rest of Australia is doing it tough under Labor’s cost-of-living catastrophe, state-owned media, the ABC, has staged its first strike in 20 years.

People forget that unions love striking when Labor is in power. Other governments are reluctant to give in to their selfish demands. But demanding more of your hard-earned cash to keep pumping out one-sided political sludge is, to quote my country mates, bull.

Apparently, the ABC even called in the BBC to fill in for them. Talk about a WOFTAM.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, ABC staff chuck a tantrum while taxpayers foot the bill.

The old parties had their turn, and failed

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Something remarkable is unfolding… One Nation has turned out the Liberals’ lights. 

The numbers from the pre-election polling, now being borne out in the count, are eye-watering. One Nation is on track to receive a substantial taxpayer-funded election windfall under the Malinauskas government’s new public-funding regime.

The formula is straightforward. In One Nation’s case, $6 for every vote up to the first 10 per cent, then $5.50 thereafter, capped only by actual campaign spend. Assuming the turnout and vote share hold, millions in public money might be heading One Nation’s way, replacing the political donations the Malinauskas Labor government just banned.

But the windfall does not stop on election night. Depending on how many One Nation members are elected, the party is also in line for ongoing administrative funding to cover offices, staff, training, and operations. That funding, plus the potential for policy-development support and other streams, gives One Nation the resources to build serious, professional policy machinery.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The old parties had their turn, and failed.

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

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There's no escaping Labor's kinder economy. And you will love it! [Depositphotos.com/@olly18]

The most important issue this week was Labor’s desperate ‘don’t panic!’ messaging.

Government officials claimed the problem was not a low fuel supply, but high demand. Australia has a jerry can apocalypse. There is a surge of ‘farm thieves’ cutting locks and raiding rural properties. Tractors are being drained and parked cars siphoned like it’s season three of The Walking Dead.

The price of fuel is about to hit $3 per litre, interest rates have tagged along, and the cost of living has soared. But don’t worry, Chalmers has a ‘bold Budget’ planned. Who’s excited for tax reform…?!

My weekly wrap-up of Australian politics in The Spectator Australia,What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward.

What does Australia expect to gain by snubbing Trump?

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Ignoring President Trump’s plea dishonours every Digger who fought beside Americans.

The Strait of Hormuz is the artery carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil. President Trump’s call for allied warships to protect it from Iranian threats was a test of resolve. Australia’s response was lazy and irresponsible. Refusing to send even a single vessel was to turn our back on the United States. Not just any ally, but the nation that has bled for us and with us, time and again.

In France, on the islands of the Pacific, in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan – even in Darwin – American blood has soaked the same battlefields as ours. Anzus rests on that shared sacrifice. Aukus, our most significant defence enabler in history, is the generational result of it.

Ignoring President Trump’s plea dishonours every Digger who fought beside Americans and signals to the world that Australia cannot be counted on when it matters. We’ve never been here before.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, What does Australia expect to gain by snubbing Trump?

Is Labor deliberately ruining us?

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A crisis of Labor’s own making. Teach children self-reliance instead of entitlement.

From Myeongdong, Seoul: Across the road from me is the original Bank of Korea building, the nation’s central bank. It is now the Bank of Korea Money Museum. It has a computer that demonstrates the impact of economic events. If government spending increases, inflation increases. If employment increases, then inflation increases, and so on.

Surely Jim Chalmers knows all of this. If the government spends more on government jobs and puts the rest of the country on welfare, then you don’t need one of these computers anymore. Capitalism is gone and you are living in a socialist economy. You know, that repulsive economic system that never works?

Like many Australians, the RBA’s interest rate increase this week has me worried. We have the most socialist of Labor governments in charge, and an ineffectual opposition. The leadership changes in the Coalition haven’t eased the pain.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Is Labor deliberately ruining us?

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

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Labor's scam racket is unravelling. Their type of kindness is weakness and it is ruining our economy.

Jim Chalmers’ kinder economy has turned a corner and crashed straight into a tree. Inflation expectations are spiking to 5.2 per cent in March. The highest in nearly three years. As it turns out, Chalmers not only did his thesis on Paul Keating, but he is Paul Keating.

The problem for Chalmers isn’t that he hit a tree … it’s that it was actually Chris Bowen’s woody nose, elongated by all the little climate fibs and Net Zero platitudes that got a bit creative with the truth. Who knew the Minister for Energy [Crises] was actually Pinocchio’s Aussie cousin? Bowen has left Chalmers T-boned and contemplating dragging our wrecked economy through a 30-point turn to get out.

My weekly column in The Spectator Australia, What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward.

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

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Then Chalmers went poof! He ninja-ed his way into a panic room as the economy started knocking.

The week began with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese surprising everyone, not least of all the Labor Party, by officially supporting our major ally’s strike against Iran.

Someone said this support only happened because Labor is in political hot water over Bondi – and if it weren’t for that act of domestic terror, Australia’s response would be sitting somewhere between Starmer’s incompetence and Spain’s hostility.

They’re probably right… as soon as Albo completed his statesmanlike address, his trusty left brain cell kicked in.

This is the first of my weekly columns in The Spectator Australia, What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward.

Who gives a toss about Kyle and Jackie O?

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Kyle and Jackie O's Radio Royalty fallout is the quintessential binfire. 

This week the news cycle has been dominated by the spectacular implosion of Australia’s highest-paid radio duo, Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.

After more than two decades of on-air banter, celebrity interviews, and the occasional boundary-pushing stunt, their partnership ended (perhaps) in a blaze of recriminations, contract terminations, and a reported $200 million deal gone up in smoke. Jackie O has walked, Kyle has been suspended, and the KIIS FM breakfast show looks like it is off the air effective immediately.

And yet, today, as I experienced my first heavy vehicle food delivery job from Yass via Temora, listening to ABC Radio doing its best to recruit ‘future Wokerati’, I wondered if ‘I’ was the only person in the country who genuinely doesn’t give a toss about ‘K’ and ‘O’?

Writng in Unfiltered, Alexandra Marshall was unapologetic:

I hate our Canberra correspondent, Michael de Percy. I rang him this afternoon to tell him as much. He was terribly pleased by the news. Let me explain. While the world teeters on the edge of hot war between empires, Michael was being vexed by the endless Kyle and Jackie O coverage on his local regional radio. Print media is just as bad. A full two-thirds of the Daily Mail was devoted to the saga (instead of … you know … world war three). And so he wrote a piece for me about how pointless Kyle and Jackie O are to our society, asking, ‘Does anyone actually care?’ Google picked this up and instantly his rant about two vacuous radio presenters became the top trending piece. It’s infuriating. And I hate him. That said, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Humans are ruthlessly social creatures. Even on the day Hitler died, the front page was shared with celebrity gossip. Maybe it’s a good thing that our species always carves out room for entertainment. Or maybe Michael is right.

Terry Barnes was less direct in Morning Double Shot:

Now for what really matters. Kyle Sandilands and Jacki ‘O’ Henderson have busted up spectacularly, and hopefully their brand of broadcast filth is at an end. Michael de Percy asks who cares, and answers: nobody. Speaking of de Percy, he’s written a cracker chapter in a new book, The Menzies Legacy, which I plan to review shortly.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Who gives a toss about Kyle and Jackie O?

The Ayatollah is no A-more-ah!

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Ding, dong the witch is dead! The funders of terrorists are in disarray.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese finally found his spine and backed Donald Trump. In the process, he whispered to his dog: ‘We’re not in Marrickville anymore, Toto!’

What happened in Iran echoes in Australia.

Staff at the ABC and SBS are gnashing their teeth and wondering why such a biblical reckoning is so apt to describe their situation. Don’t look back, you salty few, or you may end up like Lot’s wife and then succumb to a pathetic Iranian missile counter-attack east of the Jordan.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Ayatollah is no A-more-ah!

Uniparty is out of touch with the realities of growing old

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We’ve lost something of late, but I think AI might just bring it back.

Last month at the National Press Club, Council of the Ageing (COTA) Chair Christopher Pyne laid out the findings of the State of the Older Nation report. Ageism is rife, older Australians feel dismissed, and policy remains stuck in outdated stereotypes. My question to Mr Pyne cut to the heart of it: Why does ageing policy so often feel designed for older people by an elite, progressive bubble rather than with them?

The answer, unfortunately, is that both major parties have lost touch with the lived experience of ageing in modern Australia. They see the grey tsunami coming – the number of Australians aged 65 and over projected to double within decades, the 70-plus cohort up 68 per cent in just 20 years – yet treat it as a budgetary headache or a voting bloc to be placated with press releases, not a profound demographic shift demanding honest, flexible policy.

My latest in The Spectatir Australia, Uniparty is out of touch with the realities of growing old.

Vale Brigadier ‘Warrie’ George Lyon Mansford AM

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Vale Brigadier ‘Warrie’ George Lyon Mansford AM An Australian Army legend

Not for generations has there been a ‘soldier’s soldier’ of such calibre in the Australian Army nor a man who inspired so many of the best and brightest sons and daughters of Anzacs. Yesterday, Brigadier ‘Warrie’ George Lyon Mansford AM passed away at the age of 91. He didn’t die, for he will live on in many of our hearts forever.

My obituary of Brigadier George Lyon Mansford AM in The Spectator Australia.


Leaked immigration policy debacle a boon for Angus Taylor

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Every now and then, a complete balls-up can work in one’s favour.

The leaked document was prepared with signature blocks for Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Jonathon Duniam, and Shadow Immigration Minister, Senator Paul Scarr.

The tragedy that manifested at Bondi was, in my opinion, due to a two-pronged assault on our country. First, through a sustained domestic attack on Australian values and culture by our own political and cultural institutions, backed by Woke ideology. Second, by the federal and state governments and police by being actively weak on policing antisemitism and radical Islamist activism (which is still going on largely unchecked).

Sometimes in politics it is expedient to leak important documents.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Leaked immigration policy debacle a boon for Angus Taylor.

The secret to Farrer...

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The by-election to replace Sussan Ley is One Nation’s big chance.

According to recent vox pops, voters in Farrer are ‘disillusioned’ with some referring to their elected representative as ‘Lazy Sussan’.

Ley won in a three-cornered contest in 2001 but the Coalition arrangement since then has left it to the Liberals. If the Coalition had any sense, the Liberals would sit out of this one and let the Nationals have a go. But after 25 years, I doubt the Nationals have the support infrastructure they require. Whether Ley’s supporters can suddenly change gear is another story. Which brings me back to One Nation.

On the TV news, a young Indigenous man said he would vote for One Nation. Such a thought would make blue-haired progressives go feral and get a guernsey on ‘Lefties Losing It’.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The secret to Farrer...

Barnaby Joyce passes the pub test

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How much money should the government make off your beer down the pub?

I arrived at Mr Joyce’s office just as the bells were ringing for a division. I was happy about this because I was running a minute late. Gunner time remains an important value. If you get it wrong, well. They don’t call we gunners ‘dropshorts’ for nothing.

Mr Joyce arrived and I backgrounded him on how I’d heard his speech from the gallery. I wanted to hear his views on the alcohol excise and the role he’d played in bringing about the freeze on the excise for the next two years.

‘Were you instrumental?’ I asked.

‘No, I played my part’, he replied.

Mr Joyce explained that One Nation has a policy to abolish the excise on alcohol served at venues. This would not be extended to bottleshops. The idea is about keeping pubs at the centre of community. Mr Joyce reinforced that this is particularly important in one-pub towns in regional and rural Australia.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Barnaby Joyce passes the pub test.

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