It hasn’t happened often lately, but the Albanese government limped out of Canberra on Thursday, battered by a poor parliamentary week dominated by fuel prices.
Labor appeared to make a series of poor political judgement calls as it struggled to respond to fuel shortages in rural and regional areas that threaten to disrupt the businesses of farmers and commercial fishers.
As the chaos of the Middle East war casts a shadow over global fuel supplies, with oil prices hovering around USD100 ($140) a barrel, Energy Minister Chris Bowen repeatedly assured parliament that Australia had ample supply. But he argued panic buying was preventing wholesalers from accessing fuel for regional areas.
On Tuesday and Wednesday in particular, as Coalition MPs outlined real-life examples of businesses in their electorates struggling to obtain diesel, Labor bizarrely accused them of playing politics.
