Those who allow Labor press releases to act as their sole source of truth wouldn’t imagine that Australians are caught in the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory.

The economy is … buggered. And the culture wars, that don’t exist, have the major parties bound and gagged as the captives of Populism. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe by the level of hysteria.

While this is going on, the average voter is watching ISIS fighters, enthusiasts, and brides return with surprisingly few consequences.

On that topic, and with battle-hardened ISIS Grooms discovered in Iraqi jails, One Nation’s Pauline Hanson wrote to Angus Taylor offering her party’s support for any legislation put forward to keep them out.

This was triggered by Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh, known as ‘Dr Jihad’, wishing to return. An action Angus Taylor wants to block over his alleged support for ISIS.

Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume wasn’t particularly interested in One Nation’s offer of support, insisting that the Coalition needs the support of Labor, not One Nation. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are so behind in the polls you’d reckon they’d need all the help they can get.

Not that Labor is covering itself in glory, with the announcement of another $25 million in aid for Palestine. What are the guarantees that this money cannot make its way into the hands of Hamas? Should we even be giving such generous gifts with Australia swiftly approaching a trillion dollars of debt?

And then we have Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen reserving $4.2 million for accommodation costs in classy Fiji hotels to talk about renewable energy. This is happening while energy bills continue to increase, farmers are forced to surrender land for expensive electrical wires, and fuel prices are hurting across the board.

How bad is it?

So bad that my energy provider doesn’t bother to tell me when my bill is going up. They describe it as ‘changing’, just as Albo ‘changed’ his position.

This week saw a Labor government spending money it doesn’t have, bringing in migrants we didn’t ask for and can’t accommodate, while the housing market squirms and retracts under Jim’s tax changes.

Economic theory means nothing as Labor governments across the board spend and spend and spend and spend. The only way they can afford to keep spending this way is to raise revenues through fines or to increase taxes.

The AMWU even hinted at this. They urged Labor to remove the Union Jack, a ‘symbol of oppression’ from the Australian flag before adding that they also want more taxes to fund welfare.

Don’t be distracted by the Union Jack. It’s all about giving more of your money to other people.

The working class and middle class that Labor keeps pretending to support are hurting. And if we don’t watch Labor closely, and push back against their thought bubbles, we’ll end up paying even more.

The Labor Party Conference really needed someone in Cabinet to ‘do a Barnaby’ and tell the unions to ‘SITTTDOOOWNN!!!’

In other trending misinformation headlines this week, reporters sincerely asked if Pauline Hanson supports the defunct White Australia Policy.

Liberal Dave Sharma ruled out the Coalition working with One Nation saying it would ‘weaken the party’s political prospects’.

And Leader Angus Taylor released an email entitled, What we’ll do differently. You can read the policies online. They appear to be mostly single lines. Lower taxes. Cheaper power. Less migration. More homes. Ditching Net Zero. Putting Australia first.

​‘Our plan is built on a simple belief: if you work hard, take responsibility and play by the rules, you should be able to get ahead again.’

Somebody needs to tell the rest of the Opposition about these priorities. Instead, they are contributing to the media storm against One Nation, dragging up old stories, going through the motions of ‘the Establishment will look after you’. It’d be nice to see some costings, too.

It is madness.

Former Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe is warning of the ‘worst decade for living standards’ since the first world war. In some regional NSW towns, rents have doubled in the last five years.

In the same breath, it was reported that Albanese has $1m Point Piper dinner with son of Chinese high roller.

Out of touch seems an appropriate observation.

Anthony Albanese has reacted swiftly to the report on Islamophobia. Not antisemitism, Islamophobia. Meanwhile, former head of the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) Dr David Adler, ‘made aliyah’ (went to live in Israel) this week, saying Australia had ‘reached and passed the tipping point’.

He went on to say:

‘Australia has essentially outsourced its manufacturing. Its defence capacity is down. National identity is being lost. Education standards are down. There is a crazy socialist activism, left-wing activism. Those things have been building gradually. But no doubt October 7 unleashed a level of antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism that I didn’t think could occur in Australia.’

Speaking of the AJA, the Australian Federal Police have agreed to reassess alleged threats emailed to the peak Jewish body, following social media pressure. Some may say this is too little too late.

It’s an exhausting news week.

Despite Angus Taylor’s efforts, the Coalition isn’t saying the things that ordinary Australians need to hear right now. Neither is the media.

We’ve had a full week of media obsessed with One Nation, yet not a word of Green’s policies or the new policies put forward in Labor’s National Conference.

What did you miss? A media double standard that is not only cringe-worthy, but indicative of just how much our democracy is crumbling.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.

Co-authored by Alexandra Marshall.