Politics

With the cost-of-living crisis likely to dominate the next federal budget and election, attention will inevitably focus on the lived experience of particular groups across our community. How have they fared?

Jim Chalmers had a clear message for the inflation hawks as he embarked on his hectic round of budget scene-setting this week. ‘This is not the time,’ he declared, ‘for scorched-earth austerity.

Albanese said the flare-up should not become a distraction from the crisis of gender-based violence … The prime minister acknowledged the rallies were held to demand ‘that governments of all levels must do better, including my own, including every state and territory government’.

Concern at the prospect of a minority government is misplaced… One measure of the success of the minority government formed by Julia Gillard was its legislative agenda, with record numbers of bills passed during her term.

With the Greens now so clearly focused on garnering all the votes they can on the issue, and inequality threatening to put home ownership and even affordable rent out of reach for a generation of young people, it’s hard to justify preserving billions of dollars of tax incentives.

Ominously, Musk used X to whip up a barrage of anti-Australian sentiment … Musk posted that his concern was ‘that if ANY country is allowed to censor content for ALL countries … then what is to stop any country from controlling the entire internet?

Without fanfare, the prime minister attended early mass at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra last Sunday, where he joined other worshippers in praying for the victims and survivors of the Bondi Junction shopping centre knife attack. The prayers were also for the nation and its leaders in times that had suddenly become dramatically less certain.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has cleverly set the framework for the contest at the next election with his recent speech outlining his vision for this country as a low-carbon economy.

Poor strategic planning is a disturbing feature of government in this country. It may be attributable in part to the short political cycle, which mandates a federal election within three years.

As I write this, I do not have a stable home address because my current solution to the problem is leading a nomadic lifestyle to stay a step ahead of Chinese Communist Party goons. I don’t know what their plans are if and when they catch up with me again.