Welcome back to your weekly federal politics update, where Courtney Gould gets you up to speed on the happenings from Parliament House.
When it comes to the early days of the pandemic, voters have long memories.
So as Anthony Albanese told people to go off and enjoy their Easter holiday, you can’t blame them for drawing a link to Scott Morrison’s declaration just before Australia shut down in March 2020.
The then-prime minister had just chaired a meeting of state and territory leaders, where they’d agreed to restrictions on non-essential gatherings to stop the spread of the virus. But Morrison said he was still going to the footy because the restrictions weren’t kicking in until Monday.
“The fact that I would still be going on Saturday speaks not just to my passion for my beloved Sharks. It might be the last game I get to go to for a long time,” he said. Morrison quickly backtracked.
Equally the prime minister wants you all to have a great long weekend. Spend your money during your holidays. But also, conserve fuel. And catch the bus.
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Albanese is desperate for you not to compare the fuel crisis to the pandemic. This is a different crisis, he says. The government has stressed supplies have been secured until May and this week signed off on a national plan and offered relief through the halving of the fuel excise.
So when news of Albanese’s prime-time takeover landed on Wednesday, there seemed to be a general understanding from voters that this could be significant. The last time he did so, the Queen had died. Morrison before him beamed into our homes to talk directly about the pandemic.
Reports the UK’s Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump were to deliver their own national addresses in the hours after Albanese only fevered speculation. The prime minister’s repetition of messages he’s been sending all week fell flat.
‘That could have been an email’
It became the national address that spurred a hundred memes. ‘Yeah, that could have been an email,’ satirical news outlet Betoota Advocate told their followers. The Coalition called it “nothing but hot air”.
Albanese backed up his national address with a speech to the National Press Club. He was asked if he misread the moment. He doesn’t think so.
“I’m taking every opportunity to put the facts out about where we’re at and to show people that we do have a plan,” he says.
Anthony Albanese wasn’t bothered by the criticism of his national address. (ABC News: Dan Sweetapple)
That didn’t stop the memes which are clearly making fun of the prime minister. But hey, at least his office can tell themselves their message is being read. And they’re probably not wrong. The memes have a better likelihood of reaching people who were watching the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives or doomscrolling on TikTok over the nightly news.
But one has to wonder if next time Albanese wants to delay the start time of Home and Away to directly talk to Australians, people won’t believe that he actually has something to say
This week marked a bit of a turnaround in the government’s approach since the Iran war broke out. The government initially downplayed prospects of fuel shortages. Energy Minister Chris Bowen had dedicated much of his time at the dispatch box in Question Time asking people to stop panic buying.
Public should not expect clear trigger for fuel rationing
But with no certainty as to when the conflict will end or when the Strait of Hormuz will re-open, it was clear there needed to be a shift. After Bondi, the prime minister can’t afford the sentiment he can’t respond quickly to a crisis to cement.
National cabinet signed off on a four-stage plan. The plan didn’t outline what exactly happens next, or what could happen if our fuel supplies hit critical levels. Nor would the government, when asked, clearly define what the trigger for fuel rationing would be.
What our leaders are willing to tell us is clearly a lesson they’ve learned from the pandemic. Rightfully, they don’t want people rushing to fill up hastily purchased jerry cans in the same way we rushed to purchase toilet paper in 2020.
The government also really wants to avoid the state-by-state approach adopted during the pandemic.
Budget will still be ‘ambitious’
Of course in the background of all of this was parliament — the last sitting week until the federal budget is handed down in May.
Albanese and his treasurer Jim Chalmers have repeatedly declared this will be the most “ambitious” budget to date.
As my colleague Clare Armstrong wrote, the prime minister used his press club address to declare the global oil crisis only heightens the case for economic reform. The government has been teasing reform is coming for some time.
What form that takes is yet to be seen. There had been some speculation the Iran war had dampened mood for change. But Albanese now says it can’t be used as “an excuse to delay or hold back reform”.
In recent months, the government has left the door open to changes to the capital gains tax discount. The ABC also revealed Treasury has been asked to model options for a new levy on gas companies.
Jim Chalmers is tinkering away with the budget ahead of May 12. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)
What Albanese did shut down this week was the prospect of expanding the parliament this term.
Labor’s been flirting with this idea for some time now, the argument being that Australia’s population has substantially increased since the last time the number of seats was increased in the Hawke era.
The issue was a hard pivot from the Coalition who took a brief pause in smashing the government over the fuel crisis to unite and come out against any plan to swell the parliamentary ranks.
Albanese was quick to shut it down when asked during Question Time. Albanese is concerned the campaign against expanding the parliament wouldn’t be healthy for our democracy.
Also not healthy for democracy is the fact that parliamentarians now each represent around 120,000 people — 60 per cent more people than it was last updated.
But for now the matter will sit on the bipartisanship only shelf alongside other reforms, such as religious discrimination.
LoadingRunning on empty
One person whose personal fortunes were saved by an empty fuel tank was the opposition leader himself, Angus Taylor, whose car was stolen by thieves in the early morning last week.
But they didn’t get far.
“I walked outside where I was staying and I thought I was going mad because the car wasn’t there … The moral of the story is don’t leave much fuel in your car to avoid it getting taken too far away,” he told KIIS FM this morning.
I’m sure it’s not the same message he’ll send to Australians later tonight when he exercises his right of reply to deliver his own national address.