Angus goes to the mattresses, majority don’t like Adam

My Canberra Correspondent caricature for The Spectator Australia

Your Correspondent in Canberra: It was quite the day in the election campaign. Adam Bandt addressed a sparse-looking crowd at the National Press Club while Angus Taylor tore strips off Treasurer Jim Chalmers who cried ‘Uncle’ and asked Angus to ‘stop confusing me with your facts’. Chalmers’ charm and his obedient Lefties’ support all run out of steam at the supermarket checkout.

Adam Bandt has the answer. He will be Prime-Alt Minister. He will ensure Mr Dutton does not get in, and he will keep Labor under control using his stature and charisma. Further, you won’t have to worry about the checkout anymore because obviously the supermarkets, energy providers, service station owners, and every other business are taking the mick out of you.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Angus goes to the mattresses, majority don’t like Adam.

Angus goes to the mattresses, majority don’t like Adam https://t.co/yfKxepKrWd

— Rowan Dean (@rowandean) April 9, 2025

Albo and Dutton debate was a complete farce

Politics is a metaphorical war. It is no place for civilians

Central to our two-party liberal democracy is political debate. Our system allows for peaceful revolutions at the ballot box. It requires our political leaders to fight so that we don’t have to. The current debate format that brings voters into the equation is a complete cop-out. It sucks. Instead of our leaders debating each other, they have to be nice to the voters participating in the debate show.

The contemporary political debate format where voters get to ask questions in the middle of the debate sucks. It is not good for our democracy.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Michael de Percy watched last night’s leaders’ debate and was unimpressed. You know what the debate told me? Instead of being about issues that really matter, this has become a Seinfeld election about nothing – when it should be about everything. De Percy effectively corroborated master Liberal campaigner Ian Hanke’s distaste for leaders’ debates. All that said, Peter Dutton deserves credit for performing solidly after just learning his father in Brisbane has had a heart attack, but Anthony Albanese was so gratingly on-message there was no winner (the audience polled gave it to Albanese by a decisive margin, an online poll said very differently). There were better things to do with one’s evening than watch this political version of World Championship Wrestling.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albo and Dutton debate was a complete farce.

The debate format that brings voters into the equation is a cop-out. Instead of leaders debating each other, they have to be nice to voters participating in the show.

Politics in an adversarial system is a metaphorical war. It is no place for civilians.https://t.co/VuVGTiK2Lq

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 8, 2025

Angus Taylor’s Budget Reply leaves conservatives wanting more

Angus Taylor's post-budget reply at the National Press Club, 2 April 2025 

 

From the National Press Club: Australia has had record numbers of business failures on top of declining productivity. That means declining living standards. The Treasurer’s Budget will provide 70 cents a day in tax cuts and aggregate deficits of some $180 billion over the next five years. Mr Chalmers says we’ve ‘turned the corner’ in the cost-of-living crisis.

But what will Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor do?

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Angus Taylor’s Budget Reply leaves conservatives wanting more.

The Treasurer’s Budget will provide 70c a day in tax cuts and aggregate deficits of some $180 billion over the next 5 years. Chalmers says we’ve ‘turned the corner’ in the cost-of-living crisis.

But what will Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor do? 🧐https://t.co/J3nkUNEJ94

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 2, 2025