Albanese Is All Out of Gas

As Dutton his his stride, Anthony Albanese is looking like a one term wonder

Treasurer Jim Chalmers today publicly backed Anthony Albanese to continue leading the Labor Party if they win the next election.

And that public backing should ensure the Prime Minister enjoys anything but a Merry Christmas.

Whenever your nearest political rival is publicly backing you, it’s a sign you’re already in trouble.

I mean, if you weren’t in trouble, there’d be no need for people to say that they back you.

And if you are in trouble, your rivals are only backing you until they’re close enough to stab you in the back.

Which is why Albanese’s election catchphrase is all sorts of wrong. He’s going to tell voters next year:

“We’ve got your back”

Do you really believe Anthony Albanese has your back? Or do you feel like Anthony Albanese needs to get off your back?

Along with Chris Bowen, Penny Wong, Andrew Giles, Tanya Plibersek, Ed Husic and Tony Burke.

That’s a lot of monkeys.

But back to my point … do you really think Anthony Albanese believes Jim Chalmers has his back?

Here’s Jim Chalmers on ABC radio earlier today …

“My expectation and my hope is, if we do win the election next year, that Anthony Albanese serves the full term and runs again, that’s what I would expect to happen.”

Whoa!

He expects and he hopes - he might have added wishes and prays – that Albanese will be Labor leader next year, IF they win the election.

Expect. Hope. If.

Not exactly terms that fill you with confidence.

Chalmers un-assuring reassurance came after the Age Newspaper ran this headline:

“If Albanese wins the next election he should celebrate, then step aside”

This isn’t the evil Murdoch papers. This is the Melbourne Age …

Nikki Sava wrote …

“Albanese succeeded brilliantly, certainly beyond his wildest imaginings and that of his friends, to become leader then prime minister. He should count his blessings, then gracefully relinquish the job.”

In other words – no-one, not even his friends, ever thought Albanese was much of a leader. They’re still amazed he’s the Prime Minister. And that’s the kind version.

She went on to write:

“The more drastic (view), which has been bubbling away inside the wider Labor family, is that he has lost his mojo, his judgment has deserted him and if he can’t summon the discipline to shape up, he should ship out before the election to allow someone else to take on a rampant Peter Dutton.”

Ouch.

So there was Jim Chalmers on ABC radio helping to pump up his ailing leader’s mojo …

“One of the things that we’ll be taking to the Australian people is a sense of stability, a sense that we’ve got an economic plan.”

Oh my god.

Labor is going to take a sense of stability to the Australian people.

Where are they going to get that from?

Is he talking about the electricity grid? That’s not exactly stable at the moment.

Maybe he’s talking about interest rates, they’re pretty stable – as in immovably high.

Immigration is also stable - at record numbers.

Government spending is stable at record highs.

Forgive me, but “things are terrible, and we promise to keep it stable” is not a winning pitch.

Imagine an airline pilot telling passengers as they plumet towards the ground: “We’re going to crash but don’t worry, as we plumet to the earth we’ll be giving you a sense of stability.”

As well as a sense of stability, the treasurer promised the PM would give Australians “a sense that we’ve got an economic plan”.

Not a plan. A sense that they’ve got a plan.

And then Jim Chalmers generously gave all the credit for the sense of stability and the sense of a plan to Anthony Albanese which gives me the sense that Chalmers has the PM’s back in the same way the PM has ours.

Chalmers told the ABC …

“We’re rolling that out in difficult times, we’re helping people where we can, and that’s a tribute to Anthony’s leadership.”

We’re rolling out a sense of a plan in difficult times and helping people, you know, where we can. And it’s all thanks to Anthony’s leadership.

Chalmers finished with this …

"I certainly anticipate and expect and hope that if we win the next election, that Anthony will be around for as long as possible."

Anthony Albanese has only been in the Lodge two and half years and he’s already run out of gas.

A bit like the country, actually.

A report out today by Frontier Economics predicted residential gas customers would face price rises of up to $290 because supply of gas is so short.

That comes after yesterday’s warning by Manufacturing Australia that a looming gas shortage threatens tens of thousands of jobs.

It’s so bad, we’re now getting to the point where we can’t afford to even make bricks.

Australia’s number one home builder, Metricon, said the cost of making bricks – which like the manufacture of most things, requires gas – has gone up 200 percent in the past six years.

And that’s making houses more expensive which is making the housing crisis a greater crisis which is why we need a little more than a sense that the government has a plan.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, building costs are on average 35 percent higher now than in 2019, and the major cause of that is high energy costs.

But of course, he’s the crazy thing …

The gas shortage - that threatens to cripple an already hobbled economy - is not a gas shortage at all. It’s a refusal, on the part of government, to access the abundance of gas right beneath our feet.

The government has decided that gas is evil – too many emissions - and so we can’t access any more of it.

Seventy percent of what we do access is sold overseas, leaving the domestic market hopelessly short.

But instead of opening new gas fields – can’t do that – “emissions” - we export gas overseas and then pay to import it back at a higher price than we sold it.

Call it Albonomics.

And by the time we bring back to Australia what we’ve shipped out of Australia, what do you think has happened to emissions? We’re created more than we otherwise would have.

It’s a whole lot of pain for absolutely zero gain.

If you’re getting a sense that the government’s plan makes no sense, then that’s not the sense Jim Chalmers intended - but your senses are good.

Having demonised coal, disparaged gas and discredited nuclear, here’s the plan …

The Guardian Newspaper reported …

“Canberra trial shows EVs can provide backup power to grid in blackouts and emergencies”

We can power Australia by getting motorists to donate unused electricity from their Teslas.

Now you know why Jim Chalmers says they have a sense of a plan. Cause that sure ain’t an actual plan.

Here’s a plan …

Donald Trump told voters he would “Drill, Baby Drill!”

Peter Dutton should make “Drill Baby Drill” his election catchphrase.

He made a good move today, pledging to scrap the government’s planned Port Stephens offshore windfarm if elected.

Dutton told journalists yesterday …

“We need strong baseload power… Our economy can’t function on part-time power.

“Anthony Albanese is about an ideological pursuit of 100 per cent of renewables in the system, which will drive up the power prices of ordinary Australians.”

That’s a good start.

Next pledge to scrap the bans on accessing our abundant resources of natural gas.

Then pledge to restart coal-fired power stations until nuclear power is ready.

Do that, and everyone will be happy.

Australians will have cheap, reliable, energy.

Peter Dutton will be in the Lodge.

Anthony Albanese will be enjoying retirement in his $4m beachside mansion – it’s on a cliff top so he’ll be safe from sea levels that we’ll be warned will rise the moment Dutton takes office.

And Jim Chalmers will lead the Labor Opposition from where he can continue his political career but without damaging the country any further.

Now that’s a plan that makes sense. Let’s hope Peter Dutton is sensible enough to do it.