PM warns the nation – but message felt thin
Updated ,first published
The country held its breath for hours.
The news that Anthony Albanese would address the nation at 7pm spread at 11am, and that was enough to create a stir. You don’t call the country on prime time for good news.
Families took a break from their holiday plans. Group chats got heated. Were we still drifting away? Was this oil related or something worse? In Britain, Keir Starmer was due to speak on the night. There is also Donald Trump in America. Will we send soldiers?
When Albanese emerged from behind his desk in a pale blue tie, expectations were high: this was big.
“My fellow Australians,” he began, before reminding us that we are, at heart, “an optimistic country.” He later admitted that it’s “hard to be positive” right now.
He spoke in a serious tone, warning of the “biggest increase in petrol and diesel prices in history”, talking about months of economic hardship ahead, and then about three minutes later told Australians to enjoy Easter.
That’s when it landed. Is this it? Did Anthony Albanese really have to address the nation for this?
After a day of speculation, the country was called to tea time with the message at its core: Carry on. Fill as normal. Don’t take more than you need. If you have the opportunity, you can take public transportation.
He plunged a nation into panic for hours, but was told not to panic. It is hard to imagine that a message about the difficult economic times ahead cannot be preserved for any day.
Prime Ministers do not address the nation lightly – or at least they did not. In March 2020, as COVID was approaching, Scott Morrison appeared on television. This speech comes at a time when borders are tightening, incentives are being implemented and the country will go into lockdown in a few days. It got bigger with every step. And then the situation got worse.
This is what gives weight to these publications. They signal a turning point; that something fundamental has changed and Australians need to adapt quickly.
It turned out that Albanese was mostly there to re-announce announcements he had already made and blather on about how great it was to reduce the price of petrol by 26 cents a litre. Is this really worth an urgent national call?
After weeks of misjudging the seriousness of the impending crisis, warning those who thought the moment needed action and missing the moment, he wanted to change tack and prepare the country.
A generous comment is that after a month of mixed messages, it reassures people that there is a plan.
The risks are real. Tensions in the Middle East are pushing global prices higher, and there are credible warnings that supply could tighten in the coming weeks. Governments prefer to nudge behavior early rather than impose strict restrictions later.
But it wasn’t framed that way.
Days after insisting for weeks that fuel supplies are strong and cutting excise duty to make petrol cheaper, the government is now gently urging Australians to use less fuel. It’s not a harsh directive; merely a proposal wrapped in the language of national endeavor.
If the situation was serious enough to warrant a national address, the message felt weak. If not, the whole exercise is overdramatized.
What is left is a government trying to turn the dial without acknowledging that it has changed the setting, and a public trying to reconcile two messages within a week.
Fill or wait. Make your choice.
It’s a difficult balance to strike: sound serious, but not alarmist; changes behavior but does not accept a change; Prepare without scaring people.
But still, the terrifying event occurred before the speech even began.
Happy Easter everyone. But I’m not very happy. Painful times await!
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Rob Harris is a national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Canberra. He is a former European correspondent.Connect via email.
