What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward

Chris Bowen's energy policy platform is a lot like a dead fish.

You have to feel a tad sorry for Energy Minister Chris Bowen. He had a tough week of bruising press conferences. Never mind, his leadership is unequivocal. That bold renewables target? Totally achievable, even if he doesn’t like mentioning it except under the duress of a hostile journalist. Bowen is probably checking his tyres on the way to another renewables announcement as we speak, making sure his EV fleet is topped up from the nearest solar panel before lecturing the rest of us about the urgency to transition away from reliable power.

My latest edition of What did I miss? Australia's political week in fast-forward in The Spectator Australia.

Anthony Albanese sulked, cap in hand, to Singapore.

Fossil fuel is better for the environment if someone else drills for it – or so goes the logic of the Labor Party which has been forced to walk its Renewable Empire election promise parallel to the most pro-carbon trade trip… pic.twitter.com/XxUnHJn2cT

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 12, 2026

Zen and the art of truck driving

The ten rules I wish I didn’t have to learn the hard way.

Philosophy, at its best, is not some airy-fairy meditation on the meaning of life. It is a set of rules for living. The ancient Stoics understood this better than most. Epictetus gave us the Enchiridion, interpreted as a literal ‘handbook’ of reminders you have to keep rereading because your monkey brain keeps forgetting.

Another well-known Stoic, Seneca, confessed that he never came home from the Roman forum with quite the same moral character he had when he left. Something always became unsettled. He needed the quiet of his study to recompose himself.

A truck driver has no such luxury. The road does the recomposing for you, whether you like it or not. And it does it with the subtlety of a 20-crate dolly sliding off a wet foot-control ramp.

Epictetus’ idea of reason was based on the divine, active, and ruling faculty within human beings that allows them to distinguish between what is under their control and what is not.

Truck driving, however, is a lesson in the fact that you don’t control anything.

 

The next time you see a truckie 🚚 staring into the middle distance at the servo, don’t assume he’s daydreaming.

He’s probably just recomposing himself after another lesson he didn’t ask for but definitely won’t forget...

Article | https://t.co/SDHxxfNcZo pic.twitter.com/KqLeSO7AAY

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 12, 2026

Dob in a servo? How very un-Australian

We would be far better off with a ‘dob in a useless politician’ scheme.

The NSW Labor government has found a new way to distract us from its own failures. It is encouraging the public to ‘dob in’ service stations charging what it considers ‘high’ prices for fuel.

In a move straight out of the Covid-era snitch handbook, motorists are being urged to report servos via the FuelCheck app for alleged price gouging. This is not a tough-on-business policy. It is the politics of incompetent governance dressed up as consumer protection.

And it is utterly un-Australian.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Dob in a servo? How very un-Australian.

In a move straight out of the Covid-era snitch handbook, motorists are being urged to report servos via the FuelCheck app for alleged price gouging.

This is not a tough-on-business policy. It is the politics of incompetent governance dressed up as consumer protection.

And it is… pic.twitter.com/xlMOd86vao

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 7, 2026