Both Sides of the Bowser: One Wants to Subsidise Dependency, the Other Wants to Study It

SMH · Mike Foley, Paul Sakkal, Brittany Busch, Shane Wright · Friday 27 March 2026

Both Sides of the Bowser: One Wants to Subsidise Dependency, the Other Wants to Study It

Albanese rejects the Coalition's call to cut fuel excise ahead of national cabinet, citing COVID-era lessons about consultation — while neither side addresses Australia's structural fuel vulnerability.

The Coalition demands a fuel excise cut it once treated as a temporary wartime measure, and Albanese counters by invoking COVID — the political equivalent of citing your divorce as evidence you understand marriage. 'Better decisions come from taking time' is what every government says when it has no decision to make. One side wants to subsidise the problem; the other wants to workshop it. Neither has noticed the car's been running on fumes since 1973.

Also covered by

The Age