You can't make this stuff up. While everyday Australians scratch their heads trying to figure out how a trip to the supermarket got so expensive, the halls of Parliament House are hosting a masterclass in political theatre. We've got crossbenchers calling key policy reviews a total joke, senior ministers twisting themselves into knots over accused war criminals, and state treasurers trying to buy back your love with a ten-dollar bill.
It's messy, it's cynical, and it's exactly why people are tuning out. Let's look at what's actually happening on the ground. Meanwhile, you can read related events here: Why Trump Wants To Cut Off Trade With Spain And Why He Probably Can't.
David Pocock is right about the tax review
Independent Senator David Pocock didn't hold back when he labeled the government’s latest tax review "farcical". He’s completely spot on.
For months, the Albanese government has danced around the edges of serious economic reform. We've seen minor, half-arsed tweaks to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and absolute radio silence on negative gearing. When you commission a major review into the tax system but explicitly rule out changing the very things causing the housing crisis, you aren't doing policy. You're doing public relations. To understand the full picture, we recommend the excellent report by The Washington Post.
Independent members and the Greens are growing visibly exhausted with this timid approach. The government wants to look like it's taking action on housing affordability while ensuring they don't spook property investors before the next federal election. It’s a cowardly tightrope walk. By shutting down real debate on systemic tax structures, Labor has turned what should have been a landmark economic assessment into a toothless, tick-the-box exercise. Pocock’s frustration isn't just political grandstanding; it reflects a massive chunk of the electorate that feels genuinely gaslit by the major parties.
The War Memorial invitation that should have been avoided
Over in the defense space, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has landed himself in hot water by defending the decision to invite Ben Roberts-Smith to the official opening of the revamped Australian War Memorial.
The reasoning from Marles? It's "appropriate" because Roberts-Smith is a Victoria Cross recipient, and all VC recipients get an invite. He even rolled out the classic line about the "presumption of innocence" regarding ongoing criminal investigations.
"There is a presumption of innocence in this country and Ben Roberts‑Smith is a recipient of the Victoria Cross." — Richard Marles
Let's call this what it is: an absolute failure of moral leadership.
Yes, a criminal trial is a legal process. But we've already had a massive, grueling Federal Court defamation case where a judge found, to the civil standard of truth, that Roberts-Smith committed modern war crimes. Pretending that finding doesn't exist just to maintain a rigid, bureaucratic protocol for an invitation list is staggering. The War Memorial is supposed to be a sacred space of solemn remembrance. Dragging a lightning rod of war crime allegations into the ribbon-cutting ceremony completely overshadows the event and insults the integrity of the uniform. Marles is trying to hide behind a legalistic shield, but the public sees right through it.
The state budget shell game
Meanwhile, the state governments are rolling out their budgets with a heavy focus on "cost-of-living relief".
Take New South Wales, where Treasurer Daniel Mookhey is dropping the weekly road toll cap from $60 to $50 for a single year. On paper, saving $10 a week sounds nice. The government claims it will put up to $520 back into the pockets of regular Western Sydney commuters over the next 12 months. They're also scrapping those infuriating toll administration fees.
But let's look at the bigger picture. Why is Sydney the most heavily tolled city on the planet in the first place? Because successive governments privatized public roads, locking citizens into decades of soaring, CPI-indexed fees owned by private corporations. Giving drivers a temporary, taxpayer-funded ten-dollar discount for one year—conveniently leading right up into the lead-up to the next state election cycle—is a classic band-aid fix. It doesn't fix the structurally broken toll network. It just subsidizes the private toll operators with public money while calling it a win for the working class.
Queensland is playing a similar game with massive infrastructure promises, trying to build its way out of voter anger. Both states are facing a massive economic slowdown, with NSW growth forecasts slashed from 2.5% down to a miserable 1% due to sticky inflation. They don't have the cash for structural changes, so they're giving you small crumbs and hoping you don't notice the cake is missing.
What needs to happen next
The political strategy of taking no risks and offering small bickie-sized handouts is failing. If we actually want a political landscape that doesn't feel farcical, the playbook has to change.
- Open up the tax boundaries: The federal government needs to stop treating negative gearing like a forbidden topic. Put everything on the table in the tax review, or don't bother wasting taxpayer money running them.
- Draw a moral line on military honors: The defense leadership must stop hiding behind protocol. When civil courts make definitive findings regarding war crimes, administrative protocols regarding official events should reflect that reality immediately.
- Fix the systems, don't just patch them: State budgets need to stop relying on temporary 12-month caps to hide structural economic failures. If toll roads are predatory, renegotiate the corporate contracts instead of using public tax revenue to pay off the difference.
Stop settling for the political theatre. Demand real policy, not just pre-election survival tactics.
