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

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.

I’ve been driving 500 km a day in a heavy vehicle, delivering bread to the Riverina area. This morning, 150 litres of diesel cost $380. Diesel’s shot up 90 cents in the last week.

Because of the war? I don’t think so.

It’s because generations of politicians decided we didn’t… pic.twitter.com/HRZEiXlUsM

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) March 14, 2026

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

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.

"Always reaching for greatness, Labor declared our nation a proud ‘middle power’ (or is that ‘middling’?), high-fived Carney, and now we are left to wait for Jim Chalmers to send us a copy of the bill in the next… pic.twitter.com/fgAQBGlTBC

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) March 6, 2026

Who gives a toss about Kyle and Jackie O?

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?

Seriously, who gives a toss?

The real question isn’t whether Kyle was out of line or whether Jackie O deserved better. It’s why so many people seem invested in the personal dramas of two people they’ve never met.

We’ve elevated shock jocks and tabloid personalities to the… pic.twitter.com/4XGDmKR8X1

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) March 5, 2026