When Canberra Returns, Australians Must Not Look Away
When summer ends and the bureaucrats, politicians and staffers drift back to Canberra, Australians must remember one thing: nothing has been fixed.
The failures didn’t go on holiday.
We were promised accountability.
We were promised restraint.
We were promised action.
Instead, we got record spending, bloated departments, unchecked staff hires, rising debt, and endless deflection. Ordinary Australians tightened their belts while government indulged itself—on expenses, consultants, advisers, and ideological projects that deliver little relief at the kitchen table.
Cost of living remains crushing.
Energy prices remain unstable and unaffordable.
Power rebates quietly disappear.
Defence capability weakens while global risks rise.
Immigration settings remain chaotic and disconnected from housing, wages and infrastructure.
And when Australians raise concerns—about antisemitism, social cohesion, national security, or fairness—they are lectured, ignored, or smeared instead of heard.
This government and its supporters—Labor leadership, the Greens, and their activist allies—have mastered the art of excuse:
• It’s someone else’s fault
• It’s complicated
• It’s inherited
• It’s tomorrow’s problem
Meanwhile, Australians pay today.
This isn’t about left versus right. It’s about responsibility versus entitlement. It’s about a political class increasingly insulated from the consequences of its own decisions, while families, retirees, small businesses and workers absorb the damage.
Democracy doesn’t defend itself.
Accountability doesn’t enforce itself.
Pressure doesn’t maintain itself.
If Australians want better—better leadership, better priorities, better stewardship—then the heat must stay on. Questions must be asked. Spending must be audited. Promises must be measured against outcomes, not press releases.
Canberra works best when it knows the public is watching—and won’t be distracted, divided, or fatigued into silence.
— Summer ends.
The excuses must end with it.
#MichaelKennedy